A 27-YEAR-OLD man died from a single stab wound to the heart after he went to help a friend who was fearful he was going to be attacked following a row over a €1,500 drugs debt, an inquest heard yesterday.
Edward Gallagher, from Ardcullen in Hollyhill, Cork, was stabbed in the heart by Alan Field during the row on Friar’s Walk in Cork sometime after 7am on February 15th, 2009, after Field went to confront another man, Mark Twomey, to whom he owed €1,500 for drugs.
Yesterday’s inquest into Mr Gallagher’s death heard Field had been charged with assault causing harm to Mr Gallagher and that a file on the murder had been sent to the DPP.
However Field had since died from a drug overdose, and the DPP had withdrawn the prosecution.
Det Sgt Shane Bergin told how gardaí had established from phone records that Mr Twomey had rung Field some 20 times between 5pm on February 14th and 7am on February 15th in relation to obtaining the money that he owed him.
Mr Twomey told the inquest that at one point Field had told him that he was coming over to his house on Friar’s Walk with others to sort it out, and he was fearful that Field was going to kill him so he called his friend Mr Gallagher.
Mr Gallagher got a taxi to the house on Friar’s Walk, and they went upstairs and chatted, but when they heard a car revving outside and someone shouting “come out, ye bastards” and Field rang, they armed themselves with a hammer and kitchen fork and went out.
Mr Twomey said he saw Field get out of a car and Mr Gallagher went towards him to try to talk to him so they could resolve the issue.
However, Field started lunging at him with a knife and was jabbing at him as Mr Gallagher moved in and out towards him.
He saw Field make contact with Mr Gallagher in the chest area before Field ran back to the car and he (Mr Twomey) chased after him and smashed in the rear window at the driver’s side with a hammer before the car took off.
He went back to Mr Gallagher, who said “I’m sure he stabbed me, kid”.
They went indoors and he could see Mr Gallagher was bleeding slightly through his T-shirt.
However, he suddenly began to gush blood and he (Mr Twomey) tried to staunch the flow with a towel.
The inquest heard how Mr Twomey rang the emergency services and an ambulance arrived. Paramedics treated Mr Gallagher at the scene before he was rushed to Cork University Hospital, where he died that morning.
The jury of five women and one man returned a verdict of unlawful killing.
Cork city coroner Dr Myra Cullinane extended her sympathies to Mr Gallagher’s family on what she described as his “shocking death”.
