MARTIN DORNEY:A LEADING investigator of high-profile homicides, Supt Martin Dorney, who has died aged 51, was a rising star in An Garda Síochána and known to the public as a victim of misdiagnosis of malignant skin cancer resulting in an Irish Medical Council investigation.
Quiet-spoken, reserved, and highly regarded within the force, he played a key part in the investigation into the death of schoolboy Robert Holohan at Midleton, Co Cork, in January 2005, a case that attracted huge public interest.
Along with Supt Liam Hayes (now retired), Dorney, then an inspector at Midleton Garda station, was central to the scrutiny of more than 1,000 statements and over 2,000 cross-checks, a painstaking process culminating in the manslaughter conviction of engineering student Wayne O’Donoghue. The Holohan family paid their respects at his removal.
The following year, he played a prominent part in the successful investigation of the murder of 19-year-old Sheola Keaney at Cobh, Co Cork, by Thomas Kennedy, her ex-boyfriend, who pleaded guilty to her killing.
Tragically, barely a year after he was promoted as superintendent, the misdiagnosis of skin cancer was to change his life. Having received a clean bill of health, he set out to find explanations for the deterioration of his medical condition.
Last year, Dorney, who lived with his wife Paula and their three children at Ballinora, near Ballincollig, Co Cork, brought 15 charges of professional misconduct and poor professional conduct against his GP at an Irish Medical Council hearing.
The case made headlines as the council’s fitness to practise committee heard that Dr Patrick Lee had diagnosed a mole as benign in 2003 after skimming over a laboratory report and thus missing the recommendation that Supt Dorney be sent for further investigative surgery. By 2009, the melanoma was found to be malignant and in 2010 the cancer had reached stage-four level. As he told the Irish Medical Council, he was “facing down the barrel of a gun”. However, it was a mark of his character that he subsequently accepted an apology from the GP who admitted trying to cover up his error and was suspended from practising medicine for six months. A High Court action taken by Supt Dorney against Dr Lee was settled out of court.
Having joined the force in 1980, he became sergeant at regional Garda headquarters in Anglesea St, Cork, in 1993, a position that included responsibility for crowd control when Munster finals and other championship matches were played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Following his appointment as inspector at Midleton in 2000, he managed traffic control for the National Ploughing Championship in east Cork.
Originally from Skeheenarinky, near Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, he was educated at Mitchelstown Community School. An accomplished Gaelic footballer, he won an All Ireland under-21 medal with Cork.
With 30 years’ experience in the force, he was promoted to superintendent in 2008 and assigned to Kanturk in north Cork. In a tribute, Chief Supt Tom Hayes described him as “an extremely dedicated and conscientious garda”. Supt Flor Horan, who had worked with him since 1998, said he was “a real professional, 100 per cent committed to the job – but above all he was a family man”.
He is survived by his wife Paula, daughters Aisleigh and Niamh, son Ciarán, sisters Nuala and Mary and brother, Seamus.
Martin Dorney: born January 5th, 1960; died January 7th, 2011