Coroner's Inquest - Advice

Corbally

I have a friend who has to attend a coroner's inquest as a witness soon. Does anybody here have any experience of a coroner's inquest? What can he expect?
He's been told he has to make a statement.

Will it be a long drawn out experience or will it be a quick in and out in a packed court room full of other cases?

Thanks for any input

alchemist33

Presumably the length of time will vary with the complexity of the case. I gave evidence for about 20 mins at one. The whole inquest took about two hours with a break for the jury to deliberate. If your friend is just a witness with no interest in the outcome I presume they could leave after giving evidence.

Corbally

Thanks alchemist. When giving evidence were you reading a statement or was someone asking questions and you were answering?

nuac

If your friend is a relevant witness AGS will have already taken a statement.

Coroner may ask if you have any amendments or addtions.

alchemist33

hanksy123 wrote: »

Thanks alchemist. When giving evidence were you reading a statement or was someone asking questions and you were answering?

I was asked questions, although as already mentioned my statement had been taken before. My statement was read out but I honestly can't remember if I or someone else did this!

Corbally

Ok thanks, I'll pass it on. He's a nervous and I think he has visions of being interrogated in front of a room full of people.

Thanks guys

alchemist33

In my case a family member had died - the coroner and the guards went out of their way to make me feel comfortable and the jurors came and shook my hand after. It shouldnt be as tense as proper court.
Aside from us, the jurors and guards there were only a couple of journos.

nuac

Over many years in practice I have seen Gardai and Coroners deal very sympathetically with relatives of the deceased

coylemj

Inquests are not as formal as court cases. Blame cannot be apportioned so the adversarial (one side against the other) element that you get in a normal court isn't present, hence the level of questioning that a witness will get is nothing like what you'd expect during cross-examination in a court case. OP's friend has nothing to worry about.

Fred Swanson

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Little CuChulainn

Usually the clerk will read out your statement and ask you to sign a deposition. The coroner may ask you to clarify some matters. The family can also ask questions. While it is not adversarial, family can be unpredictable with their questions. Grief is a powerful emotion and sometimes families might want someone to blame. This can make it seem like you are being interrogated. The coroner will usually intervene in these circumstances though.

Corbally

My friend is a family member of the deceased so there should be no questions from the family. He was told by AGS that the local paper requested to be there. Is that normal? How would AGS know about the papers request? I would of assumed the paper didn't need to make a request

Fred Swanson

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Conor Bourke

I would've presumed the same re: media, afaik coroners court is open to anyone who wishes to attend. In this case are there particularly sensitive elements or perhaps there is some reason that the case might be considered "high profile" for want of a better description? (Oh and please don't feel obliged to provide details, I don't wish to know what happened, just hoping to help you understand what's happening)

I gave a statement to the guard who dealt with the sudden death of a relative a few years ago. I described identifying the body in the mortuary and my limited understanding of what had happened. When the inquest took place, I sat in the dock, my statement was read back to me and I was asked to confirm that it was correct. The post mortem summary and a few other details were read out. The coroner summarised the cause of death and offered his sympathies to our family. It was an upsetting experience but thankfully the guards and coroner were very kind and empathetic towards us which made the whole thing a little easier to deal with.

Wishing your friend the best of luck, I hope they get on okay.