A North Kerry woman, whose son was found not guilty of her murder, was unlawfully killed, an inquest has found.
The inquest into the death of Susan Dunne of Ballingeragh, Lixnaw, concluded this afternoon at Listowel District Court.
She was found dead in her home on the morning of November 27th 2013, with severe head injuries.
Her son Patrick Dunne, of the same address and who has autism, was found not guilty of her murder last year by reason of insanity.
On January 18th this year, the inquest heard evidence from Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster, and evidence of identification of Susan Dunne’s body.
This afternoon, the deposition of the Dunnes’ neighbour, Anthony McElhinney, was read to the court.
He said he was told something was wrong at the Dunne household that morning, and went to check on the mother and son.
Mr McElhinney said Ms Dunne’s car was missing, but that the front door was unlocked, and the radio was on.
He entered the house and found Ms Dunne’s bedroom door was locked, but found the window outside on the latch, and pulled back the curtains to see two bare feet at the bottom of the bed.
He said he was still shouting in at this point and received no response, and he called for help.
Mr McElhinney, who is an occupational first aider, kicked open the door and saw the rest of Ms Dunne’s body covered by the duvet.
He said there was a smell of blood, and when he pulled the duvet back, he couldn’t see the face for the blood.
Further evidence from attending gardaí noted they observed lacerations to her head, and serious head wounds.
The deposition of Dr Richard O’Reilly of Rattoo surgery, who also attended the scene, noted there was brain matter protruding at the wound.
Superintendent Fearghal Patwell, who was then a detective inspector in Listowel, said he attended the mortuary at University Hospital Kerry after the post-mortem examination had taken place on the body of Susan Dunne.
He told the inquest the post-mortem noted Ms Dunne had received six blows to her head, five of which were significant, and these were consistent with an axe found at her home.
Garda Declan McDonagh, told the inquest that he arrested Patrick Dunne, who had been spotted on his own in Listowel town with his mother’s car, on suspicion of his mother’s murder.
Patrick Dunne subsequently told gardaí that it was an accident and he didn’t remember much, but the weapon was an axe.
Coroner Helen Lucey concluded Susan Dunne died by unlawful killing, and the cause of death was brain swelling and lacerations, following multiple blows to the head with a sharp weapon.
The criminal trial, during which Patrick Dunne was found not guilty of his mother’s murder, heard that she was killed after an argument over a phone charger.
