Gardaí have ruled out foul play in their investigation of the death of a pensioner in Carlow.
Garda inquiries are now focused on whether two men tried to use the dead man’s remains as a means of collecting his pension, according to The Irish Times.
A postmortem established that Peader Doyle (66) from the Pollerton Road area of Carlow Town had just died before the alarm was raised in the post office on Friday.
There were also no signs of any injury on his body and no other signs of foul play in his death have come to light.
The postmortem process cannot determine an exact time of a death, though it can give an estimate.
This means it will be impossible to establish medically if Mr Doyle died at his home, on the way to the post office or on the premises as these events all took place in a matter of minutes.
Alive
The two men propping up Mr Doyle's remains in Hosey’s post office on Staplestown Road were both known to him.
One of them went voluntarily to Carlow Garda station to give a statement, in which he insisted that Mr Doyle was alive when they left home and had taken a drink of water just before leaving.
Garda sources said the investigation was now trying to determine when and where Mr Doyle died, if his body was mistreated or mishandled in a criminal manner, and if an effort was made to fraudulently collect his pension.
CCTV recorded along the route from Mr Doyle’s home to the post office is being sought, with gardaí hopeful this could help to determine if he was being carried or propped up for the entire journey or if he was able to move himself for some of the 500-metre walk.
The incident on Friday resulted in paramedics and gardaí being called when it became clear Mr Doyle was dead, though his fully clothed remains were being propped up by two men who were trying to collect his pension.
The men departed the scene, leaving the remains of Mr Doyle behind, and were not paid his pension.
Ill
Earlier on Friday morning, one of the men went to the post office alone in an effort to collect Mr Doyle’s pension, saying the pensioner was ill and could not collect it himself.
However, he was informed Mr Doyle would have to collect it himself. It appears that man then went to Mr Doyle’s house and with the help of another man brought him to the post office.
Mr Doyle’s death notice states he died “suddenly” and that he was “predeceased by his parents Patrick and Anne, sister Angeline and brother Lar”.
It added he was “sadly missed by his heartbroken sister Noeleen, brothers-in-law Liam Dowling and Christopher Haughney, nephews, nieces, grand-nephews, grand-nieces, relatives and friends”.
Mr Doyle’s funeral Mass is due to take place on Monday at the Church of the Holy Family, Askea, Carlow Town, at 11am.
