Rossiter inquest hears from forensic pathologist

Clonmel schoolboy Brian Rossiter was more likely to have suffered the injury which caused his death a matters of hours rather than days before he lost consciousness if tissue samples from a brain membrane were representative, a forensic pathologist told his inquest today

Prof Anthony Busuttil of Edinburgh University outlined three possible scenarios which, he said, might account for the fatal injury which led to the 14 year old schoolboy being found unconscious in Clonmel Garda Station on September 11th, 2002.

Prof Busuttil said the first possibility was that the trauma which caused extradural haematoma or bleeding between the skull and brain and led to Brian's death was sustained on September 8th/9th, which corresponds with the time that Brian was assaulted by Noel Hannigan.

The second possibility was that Brian suffered an injury on September 8th/9th which caused some minor damage but he later suffered a second injury which aggravated the damage caused by the first injury and led to the extradural bleeding.

The third possibility was that the injury that Brian suffered on or about September 8th/9th was not serious and that Brian suffered a second separate injury on or about September 10th which led to the extradural bleeding, he said.

Prof Busuttil added that it would be difficult for him to come to "any secure incontrovertible conclusion" on the basis of the pathological evidence available to him and he could not "scientifically come down" in favour of any one of these possibilities.

"I think all three are just as possible as one and other," said Prof Busuttil who reviewed the post-mortem carried out by State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy and agreed with her conclusion that Brian died from an extradural brain haemmorhage due to blunt force trauma.

However quizzed by the Rossiters' solicitor Cian O'Carroll, Prof Busuttil said that, while he couldn't exclude the possibility that theinjury was sustained on September 8t/9th, he believed, on the balance of probabilities, it was more likely to be one of the other two possibilities.

Prof Busuttil explained that there were reports of Brian cycling after the assault by Noel Hannigan on September 8th/9th and that indicated that his co-ordination was functioning and not lapsing into unconsciousness which was a significant point.

He would have expected some loss of consciousness over the 56-hour period and a period of recovery before a gradual loss of consciousness and there were no such episodes before Brian was found unconscious in Clonmel Garda Station on the morning of September 11th, he said.

The signs of recovery during such a long slow haemmorhage would include some signs of chronic inflammation and early repair at the site of the injury and he found no evidence of this in the dural tissue samples taken by Dr Cassidy which he examined.

"All I can say is that the dura showed no evidence of chronic inflammation and early repair and, if it is representative, then the injury appears to be recenter rather than older, hours old rather than days old," Prof Busuttil told the jury of four men and four women

Questioned by counsel Mary Ellen Ring SC for six named gardaí, Prof Busuttil agreed that there was much missing in terms of information for a conclusive analysis and he could not give a "cast iron" assessment as to when Brian suffered the fatal injury.

Cork City Coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane will begin summing up the case tomorrow for the jury who are expected to retire in the morning to consider a verdict after hearing evidence from around 30 witnesses over seven days of hearing.