A coroner has returned an open verdict in the case of a 65-year-old bachelor farmer who chose to have no contact with his family and who had not been seen by them for over a year.
As a result of his badly decomposed body, found at his home in Co Kerry, it was impossible to establish a cause of death.
North Kerry Coroner, Helen Lucey, said an open verdict was the only verdict available to her after hearing evidence at the inquest into the death of Michael Sheehy whose body was found at his home at Scrahan, Duagh near Listowel on December 30th 2023.
The inquest on Friday at Listowel Courthouse heard evidence from the late Mr Sheehy’s sister, Nuala Sheehy, that she had not seen him since 2016 or 2017 and from his brother, Leo, that he had not seen him since November 2022
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Ms Sheehy told gardaí that she was passing her brother’s house with her daughter, Triona Harding on December 30th 2023, and they noticed that the gate into the property was open, which was unusual, and that there were a lot of bluebottles inside the windows.
Garda Muireann Fleming of Listowel Garda station told the inquest that they had received a call to proceed to the property after Ms Sheehy alerted the emergency services and she and a colleague proceeded to the property to carry out a welfare check.
They received no response when they knocked but through the letterbox, they could see part of a man’s body lying in the hallway and when they eventually managed to gain entry to the property by breaking glass they found badly decomposed, clothed human remains.
The remains were removed to the morgue at University Hospital Kerry where on January 2nd 2024 a postmortem was carried out by State Pathologist, Dr Linda Mulligan, while forensic anthropologist Dr Laureen Buckley also carried out an examination.
The scene had been preserved and scenes of crime examiner Garda Paul Ruby said he found no evidence of injuries on Mr Sheehy’s largely skeletal remains nor did he find anything such as dried blood or weapons nearby to suggest he had been the victim of foul play.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster told the inquest that Dr Buckley examined the remains at postmortem and took DNA samples which were compared to family members and confirmed that the deceased was Michael Sheehy.
And she said that Dr Mulligan found no evidence of any skull or neck fracture and while she concluded that trauma played no part in Mr Sheehy’s death, she was unable to give any cause of death due the skeletal nature of the remains after severe decomposition.
Coroner Ms Lucey said that she was satisfied from the evidence that the deceased was Mr Sheehy given confirmation via DNA tests, but she could only return an open verdict given that it had been impossible to ascertain a cause of death due to the extensive decomposition.
“Michael Sheehy had a very lonely reclusive death, but it seems to have been very much of his own choosing,” said Ms Lucey as she extended her sympathies to both Nuala and Leo Sheehy and other family members on their sad loss.
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