Connacht Tribune
Housemates cleaned up scene of fatal accident before Gardaí arrived
Two housemates who discovered their 46-year-old landlord lying in a pool of blood, cleaned up the mess before his family were informed, an inquiry into his death heard.
Coroner for West Galway, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, questioned each man individually, trying to understand why they had contaminated what was initially thought to have been a murder scene.
“When you find someone dead in unusual circumstances, with blood in the vicinity, you call the Gardaí,” he said to one of them.
“Everyone should know that, so that the scene can be preserved, so that the death can be fully investigated, so that his relatives would know that everything had been done properly, otherwise they would need to ask questions like I’m asking you today.”
Due to the suspicious nature of the death, State Pathologist, Professor Marie Cassidy, carried out the post mortem examination on the remains of the 46-year-old man. She found no evidence of foul play, however, and said that the cause of death was likely accidental and avoidable, but had been exacerbated by alcohol intoxication.
Shane Minihan had not been seen by his housemates for the two days between October 30 last and the morning he was discovered.
On the morning of November 1, one of them (27) arrived back to the house in Tirellan Heights at 8.30am, having worked the night shift in Medtronic.
He discovered glass on the floor, from a door panel, in the sitting room and blood on the bannister, both of which he cleaned up. He then went into his landlord’s room to check on him, but found him unresponsive and cold to the touch.
He said that there was blood on the side of Mr Minihan’s head and on his bed.
When asked by the Coroner why he had not called for help, he said that his phone was dead. The Coroner then asked why had he not gone outside to alert a neighbour, to which he replied: “Shane’s friend called (by chance) ten minutes later – he called someone.”
The second housemate, a 24-year-old student, was in the house when Mr Minihan was found dead. He did not think to ring the emergency services either, and said that it struck him as more important to ring the man’s family first, considering that he was already dead. He did not have their contact details, however, so he rang a mutual friend. He then cleaned blood off the wall.
“We didn’t want his sister to see his room like that,” he said.
Again the Coroner asked why he had not contacted the emergency services first. The young man replied that he thought it better to inform the man’s family, considering that he was dead, and once the Gardaí got involved they would have restricted access to the house.
“It was not better,” the Coroner replied.
When Gardaí were finally informed, by Mr Minihan’s friend, who called unexpectedly to check up on him, he was pronounced dead at 10.41am.
“He had a large laceration to his head, and he was in rigor mortis,” Dr Dennis Higgins noted.
Garda James Lynch told the court that he found drops of blood leading up to Mr Minihan’s bedroom. The house was sealed off, and the scene preserved.
The State Pathologist was called to carry out the post mortem examination, and she subsequently produced an eight-page report. A summary of her findings were read into the record – most importantly, that the source of the bleed was an incised (clean) wound to the right of his forehead, consistent with a cut from glass.
“He likely fell and hit off the glass door, which caused the injury to his face and ear,” Professor Cassidy stated.
“He was considerably intoxicated at the time of his death, which would be associated with a lack of co-ordination and unsteadiness – he would have been unaware of the danger to life that the injuries posed.”
The Coroner, who had read the State Pathologist’s conclusions into the record in her absence, advised the Minihan family that it was reasonable to suggest that their brother had died during the early hours of November 1.
Dr MacLoughlin concluded that death was caused by haemorrhage from an incised wound to the scalp, which was sustained in a fall.
He offered his sincere sympathies to Mr Minihan’s two sisters and his brothers in law on the very tragic circumstances of his death.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
