POLICE IN Australia have charged a 28-year-old man with manslaughter, reckless wounding and assault following the death of of Dubliner Gearóid Walsh in Sydney, Australia. He is due to appear before court via videolink.
The man, from the suburb of Clovelly, walked into Maroubra police station with his lawyer at about 4.30pm (5.30am Irish time) yesterday.
Mr Walsh (23) had been drinking with his brother Ciarán (27) at pubs in the beachside suburb of Coogee last Sunday night before he got into an argument with a man at a kebab shop. The brothers left, but Gearóid returned moments later and the dispute continued. The man punched Mr Walsh, who fell, hitting his head on the ground.
By the time police arrived at the scene, Mr Walsh had stopped breathing and was in cardiac arrest. He was taken to a nearby hospital with severe head injuries and placed on life support.
His mother Tressa arrived in Sydney on Wednesday, but Mr Walsh died on Thursday night after his family decided to take him off life support.
Speaking at an emotional press conference in Sydney earlier yesterday, Ms Walsh appealed for the man who attacked her son to give himself up. “I’d really like to say that as a mother I really feel for this guy who got into a fight with Gearóid,” she said.
“I am heartbroken for him because we don’t blame him, we don’t want him to serve time in prison. I think he was just very, very unlucky. Myself and my son [Ciarán] are appealing for him to come forward and get closure on this, and some peace.
“We don’t want him to torture himself over this. I don’t see this as a murder,” Ms Walsh said, adding that Gearóid had been “a quiet and very introverted young man”.
“He was six foot two; he had a long way to fall. Even though Gearóid was a big guy, he wasn’t a fighter at all,” said Ms Walsh, whose husband died three years ago.
Gearóid Walsh had moved to Australia just five weeks ago to escape the recession at home.
“He came over here to work as there is no work in Ireland at the moment,” Ms Walsh said.
“Ciarán was able to get some work in Brisbane doing roof insulations. He [Gearóid] came to Australia to spend time in this beautiful country and to be with his older brother Ciarán and sister Aoife (22), who are lucky to live here,” she said, adding the past five weeks had been the happiest of her late son’s life.
Last weekend was his first time in Sydney. He and his brother had come down from Brisbane to celebrate their sister’s 22nd birthday.
Mr Walsh’s organs will help six Australians who might otherwise have died to live.
Ms Walsh praised the Australian police and Irish people in Sydney. “The Irish community has been unbelievable, they have helped us so much,” she said. “Our lives will never be the same.”
In August last year Corkman David Keohane (now 30) was viciously assaulted very close to where Mr Walsh was attacked. He was flown back to Ireland while still in a coma, from which he emerged on St Patrick’s Day.
Thomas Isaako (20), has been committed for trial for the attempted murder of Mr Keohane.
Det Supt Shayne Woolbank, the head of Sydney’s Eastern Beaches local area command, said that while there are “a large number of Irish backpackers in Coogee” there was “no racial element” involved in the fight that led to Mr Walsh’s death.
Det Supt Woolbank said “alcohol was certainly a factor” in the fight, but would not comment on what caused the argument. “It only takes one hit. We can see the consequences today,” he said.