The Kilkenny Coroner’s court has delivered an open verdict on the death of a Castlecomer man in a fire in his caravan on July 24, 2006 during an inquest into the death this week.
Local man Gerry Nolan (44 ) died in the blaze which engulfed his mobile home in the early hours of the morning. Neighbours spotted the mobile home on fire and alerted emergency services at about 4.30am.
Members of the victim’s family attended the coroner’s court hearing which had been adjourned from the previous week in order to hear evidence from Sergeant Frank McKenna who is investigating the incident.
It was rumoured that a number of youths were seen running from the garden shortly before the fire broke out. However, giving evidence on Wednesday, Sergeant Frank McKenna said that there was no proof to support this and therefore not enough evidence to prosecute anyone.
A 21-year-old man who was arrested following the discovery of the man’s body was also released without charge and Gardai have said that the investigation into the incident is still open.
Coroner, Rory Hogan said on the basis of the evidence, he was precluded from investigating the question of criminal and civil liability but he was assigned to determine how the death occurred.
There was some concern over property that had been found belonging to Mr Gerry Nolan in another house in Castlecomer; however, Sergeant McKenna said that the matter of a DVD and a phone that were believed to have been stolen from Mr Nolan had been dealt with and a man was convicted of this burglary. He added that this was unrelated to the death of Mr Nolan.
The county coroner in his judgement said, “there are three issues. One regarding keys to the caravan and the location of these keys whether inside or outside the caravan has not been proven.
“The second issue concerned DVDs belonging to Mr Gerry Nolan that were found in a house in Castlecomer but it was found that the DVDs had been gone from the caravan four days prior to the fire.
“The third issue was regarding a person purported to have been seen near the caravan on the morning of the fire. I am not making any finding on this person. It was reported that somebody was seen so I am going to deliver an open verdict on this case.”
Mr Hogan added that Mr Nolan’s death was due to inhalation of smoke and fire gases at the caravan at the rear of a house at Deerpark, Castlecomer. He added that the case was open to be investigated by Gardai at anytime.
Speaking to the Kilkenny Advertiser after the hearing Sergeant McKenna said, “this case is staying open and we won’t be giving up on it. We are still investigating this case very seriously.”
