Jury to be called at inquest into Carlow woman’s death
Sheila Rice of Carlow town died on 11 February 2023 after leaving the Carlow District Hospital facility. Photo: RIP.ie
THE coroner overseeing the inquest into the death of Sheila Rice from the Green Road area of Carlow town will call a jury to hear evidence in the inquest.
Ms Rice was an 87-year-old woman who, on 11 February 2023, was an inpatient at Carlow District Hospital, Athy Road, Carlow, when she walked out of the facility on her own and went missing. A search operation was carried out that included family members, volunteers, HSE staff, gardaí and members of the civil defence. However, Ms Rice was tragically found dead the next morning not far from where she had gone missing, in the Strawhall area of Carlow.
Ray Bradley, the solicitor representing Ms Rice’s family, had written to the Carlow coroner Eugene O’Connor in advance of the inquest hearing on 1 September asking for a jury to be present for the inquest.
Mr Bradley argued that this case represented a health and safety issue and as such, legislation under called for a jury to be empanelled.
In response, Mr O’Connor said that is not uncommon for a patient to leave a hospital against all medical advice and then die. In most inquests where this is the case, a jury is not called. Mr O’Connor asked what the distinction with this case was.
The distinction, Mr Bradley said, was that the HSE was in possession of Ms Rice’s detailed medical records, which included a form that was completed by a public health nurse on 27 January 2023 which made a reference to Ms Rice being a wandering risk. Mr Bradley said that at the time Ms Rice was incapable of managing her own affairs and that “it is clear that something untoward occurred”.
Neither counsel for the HSE or an Garda Síochana objected to the request for a jury. However, Conor Halpin, senior counsel for the HSE, said that he and counsel for the gardaí had only been made aware of Mr Bradley’s request for a jury that morning. Mr Halpin said that he was “somewhat disappointed” with the late timing of this request as all of the concerned parties were in the courtroom, including 38 witnesses.
Mr Halpin made some observations about the request for a jury. He said that the potential evidence that was to come from witnesses and other depositions would speak about the improvements that have been made in the HSE since Ms Rice’s death, so this was not an ongoing health and safety issue for the public. He also said that if Mr Bradley’s argument stood to reason, then most medical death inquests would require a jury to be empanelled.
Ultimately, Mr O’Connor decided to grant Mr Bradley’s request for a jury but not under the legislation that Mr O’Connor had first tried to invoke. Instead, he granted the request under , which allows an inquest to be held before a jury when a coroner so wishes.
When an inquest sits before a jury, the jury does not have the same powers that they would have in a criminal court case – to decide whether someone is innocent or guilty. Instead, the jury are there either to reach a verdict on how the person passed and/or give recommendations that are designed to prevent further deaths.
The inquest was then adjourned without setting a date for when it would next sit as Mr O’Connor said that there is a lot of work to be done and that a suitable location needed to be found to hold the inquest in. The courtrooms at Carlow District Court are booked up and due to the large number of witnesses and jury, a sufficiently large room was needed.
