Hassett family robbed of ‘a final kiss’ for Frankie

Ian Hassett has this week described the sense of loss, emptiness and deep hurt experienced by his family following the death of his brother, Frankie, in an Ennis apartment in June 2011.

 

Mr Hassett has expressed his family’s utter dissatisfaction with the sentence imposed on the man who concealed his brother’s body in a shower for 19 days, by saying “it doesn’t inspire confidence in the justice system at all”.

In an outburst at Ennis Circuit Court on Monday, Ian Hassett described the three-year suspended sentence imposed on Bernard Flaherty (38) of Lifford Lodge, Ennis on a charge of making a false statement to gardaí as “a joke”.

Speaking to The Clare Champion this week, Mr Hassett said he had been told to brace himself for the sentence but he was not prepared for the accused to walk free from the courthouse.

“I didn’t mean to let off that comment in court. I was just in such a rage. I was just completely shocked. As much as I wanted to stay there, there was so much I wanted to say in the court that we didn’t have a chance to say,” he said.

Mr Hassett said, had they been given an opportunity to speak for Frankie (25), he would have told the court how his family had been robbed of the opportunity to say goodbye, to kiss him or give him a hug.
He highlighted the trauma they endured when they finally were able to go to the mortuary and set about laying his brother to rest.

“There was the fact we all had to go into the mortuary and the first thing we were met with was the foul smell of decomposition. It was just so strong that the lads had to go get incense and get stuff to pour around the carpets in there. It was the same carrying the coffin. The garda showed me a tattoo of just (an inch of his wrist) and that’s the only thing that I saw of him and to be honest with you I’m still in denial, I still haven’t accepted it.

“Dad wanted to go in and see him. We were told you really don’t want to. He’s swollen and you’re not going to recognise him. I don’t want to remember him like that, but the fact that we didn’t get to give him a kiss or a hug or even put some clothes on him. It’s bad enough that he’s gone and that we are never going to see him again but just not to be able to give him a final kiss and a hug.

“That is what he [Bernard Flaherty] took away from us and that’s what we were hoping for on Monday; that Frankie would have got some bit of justice, just on that part,” he said.

He outlined that he had wished to address the court, hoping it would influence the judgement.

He told how his brother would ring his family, if not every day, every second day and that he was always that close to them.

“Frankie was very family-orientated, whether it be a birthday or Fathers’ Day or Mothers’ Day, he was the first one to call, he was the baby in the family. He’d be the first one there with a present. That’s when I knew [something was wrong] when he didn’t ring or text dad on Fathers’ Day, that’s when I knew straight away.

“Frankie was no saint. He was abusing prescription drugs and that is a shadow over him but he was my brother and he deserved better. You wouldn’t do it to a dog, leave him in a shower tray for 19 days, you really wouldn’t,” he said.

Mr Hassett said his family and his mother should not have to be faced with the possibility of bumping into this man on the street after this. He said the family are now exploring their options to seek some other form of redress.

He said they would be interested in talking with the DPP’s office with a view to appealing the sentence and are interested in engaging a solicitor to look into any other legal options available to them.

“We haven’t talked to any lawyer in this yet but we will be looking to do something. My mam walks over and back through the town maybe two or three times a day and there’s the possibility of bumping into him. The last thing she wants to do is to see him on the street. We don’t want to let it rest at this,” he said.

He recalled the day he was told of his brother’s death and stressed that he did not want another family to go through this.

“I was told the gardaí had pictures to show me. I met the garda at mam and dad’s house and I could see her coming in and by the way she was dressed, I knew something wasn’t right. She had nothing in her hand, she had told me she had photos to show me and I kind of knew there and then.

“John, my first cousin, rang me and told me the cops were over by the Fairgreen and he was across by the Fairgreen and he could smell it. The likes of those things I try not to remember but it is hard to forget. We are not going to let it go – even if it is just so another family don’t have to go through this, we will try anything. We are going to see about getting onto the DPP but we don’t know where we stand yet,” he concluded.