A jury has returned a verdict of unlawful death at the inquest of Brian Murphy, who died after an assault outside a Dublin nightclub seven years ago.
The 18-year-old from Clonskeagh received his injuries in a fight after leaving Club Anabel in Dublin, on August 31st, 2000.
His inquest opened at Dublin City Coroner's Court in October 2000, but was adjourned while Garda investigations continued.
One man, Dermot Laide, was charged with his manslaughter but that conviction was overturned in 2005 and last year the State said it would not proceed with a retrial at that time.
In July, Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said the Director of Public Prosecutions had informed him that he would not be seeking further prosecutions in relation to the death. This cleared the way for the inquest to resume yesterday.
The nine-member jury heard that the postmortem conducted by then State pathologist Dr John Harbison found that his death was caused by cerebral oedema, or swelling of the brain, and the inhalation of blood. This was due to multiple facial injuries consistent with an assault.
Mr Murphy had received injuries to his chin, right eye socket, left lower jaw and teeth. Prof Harbison found that the injuries were most likely due to blows or kicks from a hard object such as a boot.
The toxicology report found that his blood alcohol level was 132mg - which was equal to about three pints. Supt Declan Coburn, who was based in Donnybrook at the time of the incident, said more than 800 statements had been taken in the Garda investigation.
Witness statements of several teenagers who had seen the fight sometime between 2.30am and 3am were read into the record.
Paul Mooney's statement told how he saw two fellows who seemed to be "squaring up to each other" outside the Burlington Hotel. He later saw Brian Murphy on the ground with three or four fellows kicking him in the upper part of the body.
Another youth ran in and delivered "a running-type kick" before running back into the crowd, he said. Jenny Hyland's statement said that she saw about 15 teenagers acting in a "very hostile" manner to each other before seeing Mr Murphy fall back onto the roadway. She said he tried to get into a sitting position but four or five fellows "kicked him repeatedly all over his body". When they stopped, he was face down "lying motionless".
Mr Murphy "seemed to be outnumbered" when the row broke out, according to a statement from Orla Healy. The row at first appeared to be "handbag stuff", according to witness David Cox, but he later turned around to see two "vicious punches" being delivered to Mr Murphy. He said he was "shocked by the force of the punches".
Fiachra O'Brien's statement told how the victim made no effort to defend himself after he fell to the ground and it seemed that he had been "knocked out" by the punches. Mr Murphy was taken to St Vincent's Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4.57am.
Remy Farrell BL, for the Murphy family, asked Supt Coburn if it had been a savage attack, as described by witnesses. One witness had described the assault as "akin to the behaviour of animals", Mr Farrell said. Supt Coburn agreed that "considerable force had been applied to the kicks".
A taxi driver told how he heard one youth saying that Brian Murphy's head snapped when he kicked him, Mr Farrell said. Supt Coburn agreed with the counsel's contention that "to put it bluntly, he was kicked to death".
The coroner recommended a verdict of unlawful death and the jury of four men and five women unanimously returned that verdict.
