The long-running case into the killing of teenager Brian Murphy outside Club Anabel in Dublin may reopen following evidence given yesterday to an inquest by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy.
She told Dublin Coroner's Court that Mr Murphy's death was caused by head injuries and not alcohol consumption as she had previously suggested. In response, Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell ordered that the file on the case be sent back to the DPP. Dr Farrell said of Mr Murphy's death: "It's not due to alcohol; it's head injuries. In that case I will be obliged to send the papers back to the DPP before proceeding with the inquest."
One man, Dermot Laide from Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, had been convicted of Mr Murphy's manslaughter but this was overturned on appeal and a retrial ordered.
Last April a nolle prosequi (no prosecution) was entered by the State in Laide's case because of "ongoing evidential difficulties". However, the nolle prosequi leaves it open to the State to re-enter the charges at any time.
Dr Cassidy was asked to review the medical evidence before Laide's planned manslaughter retrial because Prof John Harbison, who had carried out the postmortem, was too ill to be a witness.
It emerged yesterday that Dr Cassidy was not given key evidence, including X-rays of Mr Murphy's brain, to help inform her review of the cause of death. "They said it would be hearsay," she said yesterday.
Prof Harbison had concluded that Brian Murphy (18), from Clonskeagh, Dublin, died from swelling of the brain due to severe facial injuries. These were suffered during an assault by a group of teenagers outside the Burlington Hotel nightclub in August 2000.
When Prof Cassidy reviewed the case based on photographs and forensic reports she disagreed with Prof Harbison's findings and Laide's manslaughter charge was withdrawn
She had said Mr Murphy's head injuries were "relatively minor" and would not be expected to cause death, which she attributed to the injury combined with the effects of alcohol. She has now said that having reviewed all of the evidence available she believes the cause of death was the head injuries. Prof Cassidy said yesterday that because she was never questioned about her conclusions, as the retrial was abandoned, the role of alcohol in Mr Murphy's death was "taken out of context".