'I was told it was a single blow to the head', Joseph Deacy's mother tells his inquest
A 21-year-old man discovered injured outside a house in Co Mayo last August died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Joseph Deacy of Butt Field View, St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK was discovered outside a house at Gortnasillagh, Swinford on Saturday, August 12, 2017 by a passer-by.
He was brought to Mayo University Hospital by ambulance and later transferred to Beaumont Hospital. He was treated at the specialist neurology unit, in the Richmond Ward, but was pronounced dead at 3.45pm the following day, Sunday, August 13, 2017.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head according to a post-mortem examination carried out by State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy.
The man’s mother Alison Thebald, also from the UK, formally identified her son’s body at Beaumont Hospital to Garda Brian O’Shea of Santry garda station.
“I was advised that the cause of death was a single blow to the head,” Ms Thebald said in her deposition read out at Dublin Coroner's Court. “He was returned to us on August 24,” she said.
There were no family present in court but gardaí are keeping them informed, the coroner heard.
Garda O’Shea said he met a nurse in the hospital who informed him the young man had been transferred from Mayo General Hospital. He was shown some marks on the body. Inspector Paudie O’Shea from Claremorris Garda Station applied for a six-month adjournment of the inquest as investigations into the death are continuing.
Gardaí in Mayo arrested two men in their 20s in connection with the death of Mr Deacy yesterday.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane adjourned the inquest for further mention until May 5, 2018.
