'Difficult' evidence lies ahead as Stardust inquests near end

“To what extent can one be talking about feet and inches, and luck, in terms of survivability of an event like this?” Mr Mills asked.

Dr Shepherd said that was a “very difficult question to answer” as it would’ve been unique to that person in a “complex and highly changeable environment”.

Pointing to his fellow forensic pathologist colleagues, he said: “It amazes us as we sit and listen to evidence how people would be in close proximity, and one has survived and one has died.

“I don’t want to move to using the word ‘chance’.” He said there was so much variability at play and that the conditions would’ve created a “unique situation” facing each person as the fire engulfed the north Dublin venue.

Yesterday marked the 95th day of evidence before the Stardust inquests.

As the inquests near their conclusion, the remaining witnesses will also include fire experts on the circumstances that caused the fire and led to its spread.

Ahead of the evidence of the pathologists, coroner Dr Myra Cullinane outlined the process for the coming weeks to the jury. To the families of victims, she said: “This is very personal evidence for each of the families who lost loved ones.

“Families can be reassured, whether they observe proceedings or whether they choose not to, that very personal evidence will be dealt with in the most respectful manner I can achieve.”

The forensic pathologists will give evidence relating to the death of each of the victims, but the coroner’s expert Dr Shepherd started proceedings with an overview of his assessment. He said that forensic science and medicine has progressed significantly since 1981 and that there would be differences today in how the aftermath of such disasters are handled.

He said that the focus in the Stardust aftermath “appears to have been on the speed of recovery of victims” and there was “no attempt to correlate” the positions that victims were found in with their subsequent identification. It means that it is not possible to definitively say where in the Stardust most of the victims were found.

Furthermore, the quality of pathological examination of the bodies of victims was “variable”, he said, and that some reports contained nothing beyond the “very basic facts”. This variability has made it difficult to analyse the forensic aspects of many of the deaths.

Dr Shepherd said that, as was the case here, families may have been told not to see the bodies of their loved ones and to “remember them as they were”. He said this can in the longer term add to the distress of relatives.

“It’s my belief after careful discussions if they still wish to spend time or view the body, maximum support should be given to them to do so,” he said.

It has been a familiar refrain in the the Pillar Rooms of the Rotunda Hospital throughout the hearing of the Stardust inquests that the hearing of certain pieces of evidence will be “difficult” for many in attendance, especially for the families of the deceased.

And with good reason. The jury has already been told of details both specific and harrowing related to those who were in the club in the early hours of February 14, 1981.

It has heard of the panic when the lights went out. Of the struggle to get through emergency exit doors and escape the blaze that so quickly engulfed the building. Of the grim scene facing the first responders that went in to recover the bodies.

At every stage, Dr Cullinane has advised when “difficult” evidence will be heard.

She has had to say it so often because so much of it has been exactly that. The most horrific details and experiences being recounted as part of this bid to establish how these young people died.

With the 43rd anniversary of those tragic events looming next month, it’s been a long time coming.