The daughter of a man who was found dead having been bound, gagged and beaten in his home in Co Sligo 25 years ago has asked people with information about what happened to examine their consciences and do the right thing.
Valerie Snee was speaking after the inquest into the death of her father Edward Fitzmaurice concluded at Sligo courthouse. Mr Fitzmaurice was found dead in a bedroom above his drapery shop in Bellaghy, Co Sligo on 6 May, 1998.
No-one has ever been charged in connection with his death.
An inquest into his death was first opened in July 1998 and adjourned as the Garda inquiry continued. The jury at the resumed inquest at Sligo Court house today concluded that Eddie Fitzmaurice had been unlawfully killed by a person or persons unknown.
The jury added a rider to their verdict that vulnerable people and people living alone should be given panic button alarms by the state authorities.
83-year-old Mr Fitzmaurice who lived alone in Bellaghy on the Sligo Mayo border, was found after neighbours became concerned that he had not been seen.
Two local women were last to see him alive when they visited his shop on Friday evening, 1 May, and said in statements read at Sligo Coroner's Court, that Mr Fitzmaurice was in his usual good form.
The following Tuesday Eddie Fitzmaurice was found dead by a local man Andrew Marren of Charlestown.
A statement by Mr Marren, who is now deceased, was read at the inquest. It described how he had gone to Mr Fitzmaurice's home after his mother Pauline told him of concerns for him. He knocked on all of the doors and windows at the front and then went around the back and called his name, but again got no response.
Mr Marren got in through an open window in the back kitchen. When he went upstairs he found Mr Fitzmaurice in a bedroom. Mr Marren, said in his statement: "I took one look at Eddie, and I was sure he was dead, and it looked like foul play to me."
The first Garda on the scene, Garda Robert McCallion in his statement said that the body of Mr Fitzmaurice was almost naked, his hands were tied behind his back and his feet were also tied. His body was lying face up on the floor and there appeared to be scratch marks on his arms and legs. He noted in another bedroom that two drawers were pulled out of a chest of drawers and a hammer, and a jemmy were lying nearby.
Sergeant Thomas McIntyre told the inquest that an investigation began immediately under Supt Oliver Hanley and established that Eddie Fitzmaurice had last been seen alive at 8.30pm on Friday, 1 May.
A post-mortem carried out by the then Deputy State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy found that Mr Fitzmaurice had died of hypothermia. Her report stated that cause of death was hypothermia due to the inability to protect against the effects of ambient temperature due to immobilisation due to wrist and ankle restraint and exposure due to lack of clothing.
In her report Dr Cassidy said that the pattern of marks and injuries suggest that Mr Fitzmaurice was bound and gagged while he was still alive. There had been a few minor blows to his head which would not have caused his death. Dr Cassidy said it appears he was left alive and probably conscious, still bound and that he may have made some attempts to get help by moving over the floor towards the front window of the bedroom.
Dr Cassidy said that in this vulnerable position, that is bound, semi-naked, lying on the floor near to an open window, without food and water, he would succumb to the low temperatures and become hypothermic, lapse into unconsciousness and die. He could have remained alive for several days, her report concluded.
Dr Cassidy suggested that the time of death was probably the afternoon of Tuesday, 5 May.
Sligo Coroner Eamon MacGowan said that Eddie Fitzmaurice was assaulted, bound and gagged and left in a helpless state by a person or persons unknown. He described the attack as a vicious and cowardly act and said the death of Mr Fitzmaurice has a resonance for the people of Sligo and Mayo and indeed the west of Ireland.
"It is always sad to pass his house and recall the circumstances of his death," said Mr MacGowan, who described Mr Fitzmaurice as an honest, hardworking man.
For his family the events must have come as a terrible shock all those years ago, he said, and he expressed the hope that in the future they can remember the good times with their father and mother, Eddie and Rita.
Approximately 800 statements have been taken in the case which Detective Inspector Dennis Harrington says is still very much alive and he renewed an appeal for anyone with information to contact the gardaí.
Det Insp Harrington said this was a very traumatic day for Mr Fitzmaurice family, some of whom were at the inquest today and heard the details of his death. He said Mr Fitzmaurice's family need to know what happened to him and he asked that anyone with information, no matter how small, make contact.
Valerie Snee said it was very hard to listen to the evidence at the inquest and said she cried hearing it. Her father suffered a horrible death and anyone with information should do the decent thing, "search your conscience and hopefully we will find someone", she said.
