The parents of a young man who died after being shot by gardaí during an armed robbery at Inchicore in Dublin have lost their High Court challenge to the Dublin City Coroner's decision not to release to them prior to the time of the inquest statements and other material relating to the Garda investigation into the death.
Mr John and Ms Anne Morris, the parents of Mr John Morris (26), a member of the INLA and from Tallaght, also failed in their bid to overturn the finding of a coroner's jury at the inquest into the death of their son. He died on June 5th, 1997, the day after he was shot during the robbery.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh remarked that the parents and their representatives had withdrawn from the inquest in April 2001 at a time when the coroner had indicated he was prepared to look at matters afresh. The judge said they had engaged in a "premature withdrawal" and he found the State had correctly submitted they could not accordingly show they had been prejudiced or damnified by the actions of the coroner.
The judge remarked that certain documents furnished by the coroner to the parents were furnished "very late in the day", particularly the full report of the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison. He said the coroner acknowledged that fact.
The judge said he must assume the coroner was prepared to act in a fair manner in the conduct of the inquest by giving to the parents' sufficient time to consider Dr Harbison's report. The judge added that the parents had not satisfied him that the failure to furnish the documents sought at the time of the inquest had resulted in a failure to carry out an effective, fair and independent investigation into the death of Mr Morris.
An affidavit by their solicitor, Mr Gregory O'Neill said Mr Morris' parents had sought material from the Garda investigation because they had heard rumours that their son had been wounded and was lying on the ground when he received a fatal gunshot wound to the back of the head.