Man died of heart attack after robbing garage
A man died of a heart attack minutes after he was believed to have been involved in the robbery of a mechanic’s shop at knifepoint, an inquest heard today.
Det. Sgt Gerald Feeney said he was informed Seamus Lennon, 39, who was discovered lying prone in the front garden of Adare Avenue in Dublin’s Coolock on January 22, 2005, had been involved in the robbery of a Quick Fit garage on the Malahide Road.
Donal Carroll, a supervisor at the shop on the Malahide Road, told how as he locked up the garage shortly after 5pm on January 22, 2005 he was approached by a man wielding a knife.
“I was approached by a man from behind, as I looked around he held a kitchen knife to my throat and pushed me to the ground,” Mr Carroll said. After the robber, who was wearing tights over his face, demanded the shop’s takings, he threw a brown envelope onto the garage floor containing €1,195.
The worker’s father, James Carroll tried to get out of his car to assist him but he was confronted by another man with a hoodie pulled over his face. Mr Carroll said: “He said ’I have a gun I’ll shoot you’.”
The supervisor said once the robbers left the building, he picked up an exhaust pipe and chased them towards Darndale. Mr Carroll said he caught up with the man who had been wearing a hoodie.
“I was behind the man at my father’s car, I hit him on the right leg with the exhaust pipe and he fell,” Mr Carroll said. He added that he then hit the man wearing a hoodie on the head but he ran to a maroon coloured car which had pulled up, and both men escaped.
Anthony Brennan told the inquest he heard ferocious banging on his front door at Adare Avenue around 6pm, and when he went out he discovered Mr Lennon, who lived on the same road as him, lying flat on his back at the gateway.
The ambulance worker, who responded to Brennan’s 999 call, said Mr Lennon had a superficial wound above his eye and was showing no response. The inquest heard he was pronounced dead shortly after 7pm in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital.
Det. Sgt Feeney said the Director of Public Prosecutions had directed no charges be brought in relation to the robbery or in regards to Mr Lennon’s death.
The detective said: “I was informed Seamus Lennon was involved in the robbery of a Quick Fit garage on the Malahide Road prior to his death.”
Det. Sgt Feeney said he questioned one man who was believed to have been involved in the robbery with Mr Lennon and another man.
“One man was arrested and one man came voluntarily, the DPP decided there was insufficient evidence to press charges,” the detective said.
Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell said: “We haven’t been able to make the connection in law between that robbery and other events.”
He said there were assumptions being made in court but no objective evidence linking the death to the robbery.
Dr Farrell said: “The laceration of the forehead whether that was sustained in the robbery we do not know.”
The inquest heard one man, Joseph Cullen, was informed of the inquest but failed to attend. Det. Sgt Feeney said another man, Gerard Sheridan, who is currently in prison, was brought to the door of the Coroner’s Court but would not give evidence.
The family queried why no charges were brought in relation to the death, and said they were not getting any answers with some vital witnesses failing to attend.
Det. Sgt Feeney said gardaí had opinions on how the deceased came to lie in the front garden of the house but he could not express them.
Professor Marie Cassidy, the State Pathologist, found Mr Lennon had died from cocaine toxicity and coronary artery narrowing.
The autopsy report found the disease was having a significant effect on narrowing one of the artery’s to his heart.
In her report, she said: “There was no evidence of any trauma that caused or contributed to the man’s death.”
She said the lacerations to his head were minor, and he had no brain injuries.
“There is no evidence to how he was the victim of an assault,” she said, adding the reaction to cocaine is unpredictable and it is known to affect the heart causing sudden collapse and death.
Before the jury passed a verdict of death by misadventure, Dr Farrell said: “Dr Cassidy was satisfied it was a heart attack due to coronary artery narrowing and cocaine toxicity.”
