The dad of Brandon Buckley stormed out of his son’s inquest calling it ‘a joke’ amid disputes over whether he had formally identified his son to gardai.
Brandon Buckley – may he RIP(Image: rip.ie)
The father of a young man who died in Dublin city centre in tragic circumstances two years ago stormed out of an inquest into his son’s death amid claims that he had not formally identified his son to gardaí.
Brandon Buckley (18) of Edenmore Gardens, Raheny died at the premises of the Swooshed sneaker store that he operated on Abbey Street Upper, Dublin 1 on October 27, 2023.
At the opening of an inquest into his death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, the deceased’s father, Alan Donoghue, denied that he had provided any statement to gardaí about the identity of his son.
Coroner Aisling Gannon was unable to read the findings of a postmortem on how Mr Buckley died into the record after she was forced to adjourn proceedings following an angry outburst by Mr Donoghue in which he branded the inquest “a joke” and claimed that “someone is after f**king up.”
However, a death notice placed by Mr Buckley’s family on the RIP.ie website stated he had died “tragically due to the pressures of life.”
Before Mr Donoghue was called to give evidence, Inspector Amanda Flood had applied for a six-month adjournment of the inquest after informing the coroner that a file on the Garda investigation into Mr Buckley’s death had been forwarded to the DPP.
Garda John Bellew also gave evidence that the identification of the deceased had been made to him by Mr Donoghue at the premises on Abbey Street Upper.
As the court registrar was preparing to read Mr Donoghue’s deposition into the record, however, the witness interrupted to state he never recalled making any statement to gardaí in relation to his son’s death.
The coroner pointed out that gardaí do not necessarily take a statement as they seek to be “the least intrusive” as possible to family members at a very distressing time.
Mr Donoghue admitted he was at the scene but claimed he had identified his son to gardaí before he had died and told them that Brandon was in the premises.
“Nothing was said after that,” he added. He also said he had been told not to go to the morgue.
Mr Donoghue said he was not disputing that it was his son but claimed proper procedures were not followed.
Asked by Ms Gannon after a number of interruptions if he wanted the court to investigate his son’s death, he replied: “For the fourth time, yes.”
The coroner replied that the inquest could only proceed if the court could be satisfied about the identification of the deceased and if Mr Donoghue accepted that he had engaged “at a distressing time” with gardaí in relation to identifying his son.
She also expressed bafflement as to why the witness had become “aggressive.”
In a series of tetchy exchanges, Mr Donoghue told the coroner that he thought the inquest process would be carried out to the letter of the law but had just discovered it was not.
“He was not formally identified by anyone in his family as far as I know,” he remarked Mr Donoghue described the situation as “highly unusual.” He continued: “I don’t know what is going on.”
The coroner reminded him that other members of his family, which included Brandon’s mother, Denise and three of the deceased’s grandparents, might want the inquest to proceed.
Ms Gannon also stressed that gardaí do not engage in a formal identification process in relation to a deceased young man with family who are distressed, upset and agitated.
In doing so, she said gardaí were trying to cause relatives the least distress and prevent them from further distress rather than “seeking to exclude them.”
The coroner said she did not know where they could go if there was no “understanding” about the identification of the deceased.
Mr Donoghue complained that statements about his son’s identification did not contain important details like time and date which he claimed made them “technically illegal.”
When the coroner observed that she did not think progress could be made at the hearing, Mr Donoghue replied: “Is that it? Can I get out of this box?”
He added: “I haven’t a clue. I’ve never been in this situation before. I’m trying to figure out what is going on but someone is after f**king up.”
When Ms Gannon asked him not to use such language in court, he retorted that he was told it was not a court and she was not a judge.
The coroner directed him to stand down from the witness box after he remarked: “If you’d like to finish, I’d like to go.”
Before storming out from the courtroom, Mr Donoghue said: “It should be the f**king guards in that stand. It’s unbelievable You’re not a judge – it’s a joke.”
As the coroner attempted to explain that she was there to help the deceased’s family, he accused her of being there to “cover them all up.”
Addressing the deceased’s mother and other family members who remained at the hearing, Ms Gannon said she was going to adjourn proceedings but there would need to be some engagement between gardaí and Mr Donoghue before the inquest could proceed.
The coroner said she would be very happy to hold another sitting either before or after Christmas but they could not continue on the day due to the “level of upset.”
Ms Gannon acknowledged that the witness had been grieving his son.
Asking gardaí to liaise with the family about the future course of the inquest, the coroner observed that she hoped progress could be made as she did not believe any of the issues raised by Mr Donoghue were “insurmountable.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.