The High Court has refused an application by Marta Martin to prevent Dublin County Coroner Kieran Geraghty from continuing to conduct an inquest into the death of her daughter, Pamela Martin. The inquest remains pending; the court did not determine the cause or circumstances of Pamela Martin’s death.
The application sought an order prohibiting the coroner from taking further steps in the inquest, or an injunction to the same effect. The family alleged that comments and conduct by Dr Geraghty created an appearance that he had prejudged the death as suicide. They also raised complaints about the investigation and the handling of evidence and adjournments.
The allegations included claims that Dr Geraghty had described the case as straightforward and had referred to drugs in Pamela Martin’s system and a supposed history of depression and previous suicide attempts. The applicant and her daughter said that, at a meeting, the coroner read from notes referring to earlier attempts. Dr Geraghty disputed their account of that discussion and denied expressing a concluded view on the cause of death. He said he intended to consider relevant evidence with an open mind, and that a jury would return the inquest verdict.
The judge said he could not resolve the conflicting accounts of what was said at meetings and hearings on affidavit evidence alone. Because the applicant bore the burden of proof, disputed factual claims that could not be resolved on the material before him were not established. The judge also found that some matters raised, including allegations about investigative failures, did not assist in deciding whether the coroner was biased in the pending inquest.
The judge considered an account of a telephone conversation on 6 September 2005, which Dr Geraghty did not dispute, alongside the controversy about earlier hearings. He said the conversation appeared to be an effort to have the inquest proceed. Weighing it against the adjournments granted and the inquisitorial nature of an inquest, he concluded that a reasonable observer would not see the evidence as showing prejudgment. He also said that disagreement or occasional acrimony between a coroner and lawyers was not, by itself, enough to establish bias.
The application was refused. The ruling addressed whether the coroner should be disqualified; it did not decide any disputed allegation about how Pamela Martin died.