Father drowned his daughter and self, inquest told

First came the evidence of Clarissa’s mother and Martin’s wife, Rebecca, an American who grew up in California and at 26, was almost half Martin’s age. She was supported by her mother and aunt as Superintendent Mick Fitzpatrick read her statement aloud.

Ms McCarthy had left the house for Bantry at 6pm that night as her husband and Clarissa were having tea in the kitchen. On returning at 8.30pm, she said: “I did not see anything out of place.”

However, on calling Mr McCarthy’s phone, it kept ringing out before going to voicemail.

She went outside, calling his phone again, and heard it ringing in his 4x4. Ms McCarthy used her phone as a light to survey the yard as she thought Mr McCarthy had taken the lamp. She called her mother while neighbours came by and began searching the fields and adjoining land. She called the gardaí, who arrived shortly afterwards.

Mr McCarthy’s best friend and best man, Alan Hurley, said he had been searching the milking parlour with his brother, Daniel, when he spotted a note marked ‘Rebecca’ on top of a fridge. He knew it was Mr McCarthy’s writing and was already aware that something was “drastically wrong” because of the location of Mr McCarthy’s phone.

“There was something wrong because you could have got Martin on the phone 24 hours a day,” said Mr Hurley.

The note was passed to Mr McCarthy’s sister, Hester O’Brien, who by now was also searching. She knew it was her brother’s writing. Garda Batt Duggan was informed of the note and said he became “fearful”. He then told Ms McCarthy.

“I got upset,” Rebecca’s statement said of the note. “I skimmed it and I got upset more. I remember ringing my mum and telling her they had found a note and what he had said.”

The Goleen Coast Guard Unit was now on the scene. The head of the unit, Michael O’Regan, outlined how he designated three search teams, one for the nearby cliff and two for along the beach of Audley Cove. As one sweep was coming to the end of the beach, “we noticed something floating on the waves”, said Mr O’Regan.

Clarissa was taken out of the water and compressions began, and kept going for a long time. “I checked the child’s eyes and for a pulse. There was no response,” Mr O’Regan said.

This was now into March 6, and Dr Ernest Cranna of SouthDoc had arrived. Mr McCarthy’s body was found, spotted a few hundred metres up the cove and out from the shore by Paul Cotter, a member of Schull Fire Brigade and a contractor who had done Mr McCarthy’s silage and slurry.

He had spotted the body by the dying light of a flare. The doctor checked the body and told the coastguard unit there was no point carrying out CPR.

Clarissa was in an ambulance, but she was declared dead by Dr Cranna.

Mr O’Regan said he had been on the scene for just 15 minutes when Clarissa was found, and his voice faltered when he told the inquest: “We saw the little child floating in the waves.”

Ms McCarthy’s evidence told how she had wanted to rush towards Clarissa but had to be pulled back. She betrayed little emotion on signing her statement but later wiped away tears. Mr Hurley was visibly upset on completing his evidence.

Margot Bolster, the State pathologist, said an autopsy on Clarissa’s body showed the girl had eaten a yoghurt and an evening meal.

The original suicide note, contained in a brown envelope, was shown to the coroner. Clarissa’s body had been discovered at 1.50am, and Mr McCarthy’s at 2.15am. Both were pronounced dead within an hour, Dr Bolster told the inquest.

Dr Bolster’s evidence included that Mr McCarthy was found wearing the child’s black sling, and that his face and body bore numerous bruises, grazes, and lacerations. She said all these injuries were consistent with injuries caused by the sea after death.

However, she also said Mr McCarthy had severe coronary artery disease, and that this accelerated his death. There were no fractures, she said, adding: “He did not fall any distance.”

Did he walk into the water, the coroner asked. “Yes, coroner,” she replied.

As for Clarissa, Dr Bolster said there were no marks on her body to indicate she had been restrained, and said the girl would have been unconscious before she died.

Mr O’Connell, the coroner, said there were no eyewitnesses, that the deaths had occurred by midnight, and that there was “a very explicit letter or note left by Mr McCarthy”, one that “gave rise to huge concern”.

“I believe that what happened here is that, shortly after having their evening meal, Martin and Clarissa McCarthy went down to the beach and somehow Clarissa was restrained by Martin McCarthy under the water. She went unconscious and died some time later and that Mr McCarthy later took his own life.”

Mr Hurley told the inquest: “I know for a fact that Martin McCarthy would harm no one.”

Others chimed in, reasserting that there was no evidence of restraint, and that father and daughter entered the water at the same time to the same fate.

Ms McCarthy, visibly upset, left the room and returned minutes later, taking a seat next to her solicitor. Her family and friends spoke out. One woman said: “He killed her,” while another woman said: “If he was still alive, I would be charged with murder.”

The coroner said: “I believe that the evidence establishes that Martin McCarthy, for whatever reason, decided he was going to end his life and took Clarissa with him. We cannot be any more precise than that.”

Then the final verdict was read to the inquest. Clarissa died at Audley Cove from acute cardio-respiratory failure, having been taken into the water, where she became unconscious and drowned.

Mr McCarthy also died from acute cardio-respiratory failure. His death was “self-caused”.