AN inquest in Clonakilty heard that a man did not report his friend’s death but instead took his cigarettes, went home, drank a bottle of rum, took two valium tablets and went to bed.
The details were outlined to the coroner Frank O’Connell in relation to the death of Charles (Val) McCarthy (74) of Apt 3, the Square Shopping Centre, Dunmanway.
A statement by Justin Smith which was read out in court, heard that at around 5.30pm on August 26th last, he was driving around the square in Dunmanway when he saw Peter Sherlock (known locally as Bruce).
He said Bruce looked agitated. He sat into his car and told him that he was feeling guilty and that he had taken someone’s cigarettes and left him there. He asked Justin to drive him somewhere.
‘He told me “Val” had a heart attack the night before and he took his cigarettes and left his flat. When he told me this, I rang Clonakilty gardaí and Rob, the caretaker of the building,’ said Justin Smith. ‘I met with Rob and we entered the flat and saw that Val was face down on the floor and his hands were purple.’
In his statement, read out in court, Peter Sherlock (62) said that he had met Val in Dunmanway on August 25th and they went for coffee in a local café. Later in the afternoon the two men went back to Val’s apartment and they drank a few whiskeys. He said he went home for his dinner and then returned to Val’s apartment.
‘At around 1am, Val went into the bathroom and when he came out he keeled over and said nothing. I got such a fright.
I turned him over and tried CPR on him for about 20 minutes as I’m a trained lifeguard,’ he said.
He also tried to call several people on his phone but no one answered his calls.
In a second statement made to gardaí, Peter Sherlock said that he was in shock following the incident. He said he took Val’s cigarettes which he felt bad about.
‘I shut the door and was going to report it when I got my head together. When I got home I took two valium and slept until 4pm.’
Gda Paul Breen from Dunmanway Garda Station said he received a report of the sudden death of a man in Dunmanway. When he arrived at Val’s apartment, he noticed a television on the ground which could have been knocked over and saw a small amount of blood on Val’s nose. He was later pronounced dead, while gardaí downloaded CCTV from the area which created of timeline of events.
Coroner Frank O’Connell said it was a ‘most unusual situation’ where a man knew someone was dead, but failed to report it to gardaí.
A post mortem carried out on the deceased showed that he had 348mgs of alcohol in his system, which indicated he was very intoxicated. The report said he suffered a fractured skull and the cause of death was a traumatic haemorrhage.
The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death and he offered his sympathies to Mr McCarthy’s two sons, who attended the inquest.
