A coroner's inquest in Ennis was told yesterday how a Limerick man had a cup of tea with his estranged wife and appeared "in good form" a few hours before he abducted and shot his ex-girlfriend and himself dead in Shannon last October.
The inquest in Ennis heard that Ms Geraldine Kissane (23), of Cluain Airne, Shannon, was abducted from her home at gun-point by Mr Mark Sims (30), of Fergus Drive, Shannon, and formerly of Moyross, Limerick, on the night of October 7th before he shot her dead with two shotgun blasts and turned the gun on himself.
In evidence Mrs Bettena Sims, his estranged wife, told the inquest how, after looking after their three children earlier that day, Mark had had a cup of tea with her before leaving her home at 9 p.m. that night.
In his evidence, Det Sgt Michael Houlihan said that Mr Sims planned his own and Ms Kissane's deaths.
He told the inquest that gardaí found three separate suicide notes at his apartment in Shannon, while the single-barreled sawn-off shotgun used in the double tragedy was stolen in a burglary from a house in Co Tipperary last August.
The Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Maire Cassidy, told the inquest that the blasts were "non-survivable".The jury returned an open verdict in relation to Ms Kissane's death and a verdict of suicide in relation to Mr Sims's death.