A FULL public inquiry or an investigation by a body outside of An Garda Síochána has been sought by the family of Patrick Nugent into his unexplained death 38 years ago.
While working as a banqueting manager at Bunratty Castle, Patrick was found dead in the Folk Park near the popular tourist attraction on 11th February 1984. The late William Ryan, a long-time chef at Shannon Airport who was celebrating his wedding anniversary that night, was charged with Mr Nugent’s manslaughter but was acquitted in 1985. Mr Ryan gave three different statements to Gardaí about what happened on the night.
Last month, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee (FG) told the Nugent family that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris had ordered a fresh investigation into certain matters raised by retired District Court judge Patrick Clyne who completed a report into the original investigation.
This report was completed for almost twelve months before it was presented to the family, the Department of Justice explaining the “next steps” to the family in October 2021, at this time the Garda Commissioner had not been briefed on the report he told The Clare Echo. The family were informed they could not make the findings of the report public knowledge, a move which was criticised by Clare TD, Michael McNamara (IND).
Minister McEntee in a letter dated February 10th informed the family that the new investigation was “to be treated as a cold case and given to a fresh team to fully investigate”. She will not publish the report completed by Clyne.
Objections to the new investigation have been raised by the Nugent family, their solicitor Kevin Winters of KRW Law in Belfast confirmed with the retired judge’s criticism of the original Garda investigation cited. The family instead want a full public inquiry or an investigation by an outside policing agency, similar to investigations of historical crimes in Northern Ireland.
On Monday of this week, Mr Winters wrote to Minister McEntee and said the proposal of sending the new investigation back to the Gardaí was “hopelessly compromised”. The family have little confidence that Gardaí investigating Gardaí will bring them answers.
On the night that Sixmilebridge native Patrick suffered fatal injuries, two off-duty Gardaí were at the party. Internal Garda disciplinary inquiries were examined by Clyne for his report.
In his letter to Ms McEntee, Mr Winters raised the family’s concerns about the involvement of the late Superintendent John Courtney, a member of the so-called Garda “Heavy Gang”, in the investigation into Mr Nugent’s death and a recent RTÉ documentary series about the gang. The solicitor said that the series highlighted three miscarriage of justice cases relating to the murder of Co Meath woman Una Lynskey, the Sallins train robbery and the Kerry babies.
Mr Courtney’s involvement in at least one of these cases compounded suspicions about “the integrity and credibility” of the original investigation into Mr Nugent’s death, Mr Winters said. “Questions are now raised about the work of Courtney through the prism of his involvement in these other miscarriage of justice cases,” Mr Winters told Ms McEntee. There was a “clear inference that similar dubious policing methods permeated his approach” to the investigation into Mr Nugent’s death and this has “served to retraumatise and create anxiety” for the Nugent family, he said.
