Dublin man found injured in apartment after taxi journey 'died from stab wound to stomach'
Kevin Walsh (35) was pronounced dead at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown in Dublin at around 6.45pm on January 7, 2024
A Dublin man who was found with serious injuries in an apartment in Lucan in January after having travelled there by taxi from Tallaght died from a stab wound to his stomach, an inquest has heard.
Kevin Walsh (35) was pronounced dead at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown in Dublin at around 6.45pm on January 7, 2024 where he had been brought by ambulance from the apartment in Shackleton Hall, Lucan, Co Dublin
Gardaí had been called to the apartment earlier that day by paramedics who were treating the victim for serious injuries after arriving at the property at around 3am.
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At the opening of an inquest into Mr Walsh’s death at Dublin City Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, the deceased’s sister, Lisa McCabe, gave evidence of formally identifying the body of her brother to gardaí at CHB on January 7, 2024.
Ms McCabe, who had been with Mr Walsh’s partner, Lauren Beresford, in the hospital, said she had learnt her brother had been admitted to CHB earlier that day and had undergone surgery. The coroner, Cróna Gallagher, said the results of a postmortem on the body of the deceased had confirmed that he had died as a result of haemorrhage and shock from a stab wound to his abdomen.
Inspector Niamh Buckley applied for a six-month adjournment of the inquest under Section 25 (1) of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings in relation to Mr Walsh’s death were still being considered.
Insp Buckley told the coroner that she hoped that a file on the Garda investigation would be forwarded to the DPP within the next 2-3 months. She also confirmed that no criminal charges have been initiated to date in relation to Mr Walsh’s death. Dr Gallagher granted the application and adjourned the inquest to February 4, 2025.
The coroner also requested gardaí to update the court if there was any development in relation to the case in the intervening period. Dr Gallagher offered her sympathy to relatives of Mr Walsh who attended the brief five-minute hearing and acknowledged it was a very difficult occasion for them. “I’m sure every day has been difficult since this tragic death,” she added.
Walsh, who was known by the nickname “Stretch”, was expected to survive after surgery to treat his wounds but his condition deteriorated rapidly over a number of hours.
Investigating gardaí believe Mr Walsh took a taxi from his family home Allenton Green, Tallaght to the apartment where he had been living in Lucan in the early hours of January 7 last. It was unclear at the time of his death where the deceased had incurred the fatal stab wound but gardai later believed he had been attacked somewhere in Tallaght before taxing a taxi to his apartment where he lived with his partner.
Media reports in January revealed that Walsh had refused to disclose to ambulance personnel who had carried out the attack on him or where it had happened.
In May, three people – two females in their 40s and a male in his 30s – were arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of Mr Walsh but were later released without charge.
The deceased was a well-known figure to gardaí as he had served several prison sentences after amassing over 70 criminal convictions including one for manslaughter almost 20 years ago for killing a man in a drunken fight when he was a teenager. He was 16 when he fatally assaulted a 20-year-old British national, James Burke, who had moved to live in Ireland shortly before his death, in a grassy area near the Liffey Valley shopping centre in west Dublin in September 2005.
They had met earlier in the day in a chance encounter at The Square shopping centre in Tallaght. Mr Walsh had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Burke in a trial at the Central Criminal Court in 2006 which heard that the victim’s body had lain undiscovered for two days.
Although he was acquitted of murder, he was sentenced to eight years in St Patrick’s Institution with the final five years suspended for the manslaughter of Mr Burke. Seven years later, Mr Walsh was sentenced to three and a half years in prison with the final two years suspended after pleading guilty to assault causing harm to a taxi driver and hijacking a taxi near his home in Tallaght in December 2012.
In 2014, he received a seven-year sentence for possessing a pipe bomb as well as attempting to hijack another taxi. He had also been convicted of other offences including violent assault, possession of an explosive device, robbery, handling stolen property and road traffic offences.
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