A Dublin man who died from head injuries he received after running from another man on Gran Canaria was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury in Dublin found yesterday.
Daniel O'Callaghan (24), Windsor Road, Rathmines, Dublin, was on holiday with three friends on the Spanish island when the incident happened on April 26th, 2003. He died on May 13th after being on a life-support machine.
The Dublin Coroner's Court was told the Spanish authorities did little to investigate the matter. The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said in view of the verdict, perhaps the Garda could again communicate with its Spanish counterpart to encourage it to re-examine the circumstances of the death.
Three friends at a previous hearing had said they were out with Mr O'Callaghan that night. They decided to leave one club and Mr O'Callaghan came out 10 minutes later. He seemed panicky and afraid. They went home at about 3 a.m. but did not know what happened to him.
Mr James Jeffers yesterday said his apartment balcony overlooked a laneway. At 4.10 a.m., he heard screaming, shouting and glass breaking. He saw a man running towards the Irish Rover pub followed by another man who had his arm stretched out, nearly at the man's shoulder and who seemed to have something in his hand. "I heard something like a shot being fired and when I heard the thud, the first man fell and he hit the ground hard," he said.
All he could see was the man's feet and legs as a palm tree obscured the view. He saw two men running and behind them a number of black women, who were looking at the man and running up and down the lane. They appeared excited and anxious. A man on a moped stopped and phoned somebody. An ambulance and police arrived 15 minutes later. He went to the lane next morning and saw a pool of blood. The scene was not cordoned off.
Mr Frank Turley from Belfast said he had just gone in from his balcony when he heard a commotion outside like shots being fired. "I thought there were two shots," he said.
The State Pathologist, Prof Marie Cassidy, said she performed a post-mortem in Ireland on May 20th, 2003. A full post-mortem was not performed in Gran Canaria.
The cause of death was a head injury caused by blunt force trauma. There was a fracture on his forehead and skull. "The fracture could be explained by a heavy fall forward but I couldn't exclude that he received a blow to the head," she said. It was an accelerated fall. Mr O'Callaghan was already going at some speed. She could not exclude that his fall was assisted.
Chief Supt Noel White, then with the National Bureau of Investigation, took statements in Ireland. He brought all his information to the attention of Spanish police and went to Gran Canaria.
He was satisfied the man Mr Jeffers saw being chased was Mr O'Callaghan. The Spanish police did not shed any light on this. "I would have investigated the matter from the point of view of the possibility of a murder," he said.
Dr Farrell said the only witness was Mr Jeffers."Nobody saw if he [ Mr O'Callaghan] was assaulted, and if shots were fired if he was evading them when he tripped and fell, or whether he was hit by somebody and fell, but he was being pursued by a man who was close behind him and he appeared to be in fear of his life."
He asked anybody with information in Ireland or Gran Canaria to come forward.