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Coroner's Court / Inquest:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an inquest?
What is a coroner?
What is the role of
the coroner?
The inquest –
what is involved?
The verdict of
the inquest?
Temporary death certificate
What is an inquest?
An inquest is a hearing held in public to establish how, when and
where a person died.
What is a coroner?
An inquest is presided over by an independent official called a
Coroner. A Coroner is a person appointed by the State to conduct
enquiries in to the death of persons. He/she is usually a doctor,
solicitor or a barrister by profession.
What is the
role of the coroner?
The sole purpose of the Coroner is to establish how, when, and where
a person died. When someone dies in hospital or where they were
being treated for an illness by a doctor within one month of that
person's death, a death certificate will issue from the Registrar
of Births and Deaths. However there are often circumstances where
someone dies suddenly or in unexplained or violent circumstances.
The Coroner is the official who must investigate such circumstances
to establish the identity of the deceased person, the cause of death
and the time and place of death.
This may require a post-mortem examination. A post mortem examination
is an examination of the body of the deceased person by a doctor
(usually a pathologist) to determine how that person died. The post-mortem
is carried out by a pathologist who is a specialist in carrying
out post-mortem examinations, and who acts as the Coroner's agent
for this purpose. The Coroner's inquiry initially is concerned with
establishing whether or not death was due to natural causes.
The Coroner essentially establishes the "who, when, where and
how" of unexplained death. A Coroner is not permitted to consider
civil or criminal liability; he or she must simply establish the
facts. If a death is due to unnatural causes, then an inquest must
be held by law.
The
inquest – what is involved?
The hearing commences with the Coroner stating the purpose of the
holding of an inquest. Normally he/she will also set out briefly
how the procedures and he/she will also explain that no questions
as to who is to blame for causing the death will be entertained.
A member of the Gardai will act as the Coroner’s assistant
at the hearing and will read out the witness statements and arrange
the witnesses. The Coroner can arrange for a jury to sit at the
inquest so that they can confirm their verdict as to the cause of
death, place and time of death of the deceased.
Witnesses can be called to give evidence at an inquest but if the
circumstances surrounding the death are distressing, the witnesses
will only have to sit in the witness box and have his/her statement
read aloud by a Garda and the witness will then be asked to confirm
that the statement is accurate. The witness will then be asked to
sign the statement and the witness then leaves the witness box.
The witnesses that are normally called to give evidence at an inquest
are as follows
1. The person who formally identified the body of the deceased.
This is normally a close relative of the deceased.
2. The Garda who met with the person who identified the body of
the deceased.
3. Any witnesses to the accident causing the death of the deceased
person, such as a passing motorist, co-worker, etc.
4. The pathologist who carried out the post mortem examination of
the body of the deceased will then give evidence of the cause of
death.
5. If the death was as a result of a motor accident, then a Garda
will be called to give evidence of the road layout and positions
of the motor vehicles on the road. He/she may also produce maps
and photos of the scene of the accident.
6. Often the Coroner will not call all of the above witnesses. For
example, the statements of the ambulance crew are usually read out
by the Garda assisting the coroner without the ambulance crew being
present.
The verdict
of the inquest
At the conclusion of the inquest, the Coroner proposes
his/her decision as to the date, location and cause of death of
the deceased. He/she will then ask the jury if they agree with his
proposal. If they do, then the proposal becomes the verdict (official
decision). The death will be registered by means of a Coroner's
Certificate when the inquest is concluded. Although both the Coroner
and the jury cannot attach blame or liability to any person/party
for the death of the deceased person, they can however attach a
rider or short statement to the end of their verdict recommending
a certain action to be taken in order to prevent further deaths
occurring. For example in a case where a death occurred on a dangerous
bend on a road, the Coroner and the jury can attach a rider to the
verdict recommending that the road be altered to remove the dangerous
bend.
Once the verdict has been given, a Coroner's Certificate will be
issued to the Registrar of Births and Deaths who will then register
the death and issue the death certificate.
Temporary
death certificate
Prior to the inquest (or whilst awaiting the post-mortem
report), the Coroner's office will provide an Interim Certificate
of the Fact of Death, which may be acceptable to banks, insurance
companies and other institutions.
For more information about the Coroner’s Court and
Inquests, please contact :
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