Irishman, 41, who dragged his uncle’s ‘lifeless’ corpse into a post office to withdraw dead relative’s €246 pension is jailed
- Declan Haughney, 40, of Pollerton Road in Carlow, pleaded guilty to deception
- Gareth Coakley, 38, also of Carlow, also admitted his role for the same offence
- Pair had attempted to claim the deceased man’s pension from the post office
An Irishman who dragged the body of his ‘grey coloured’ and ‘lifeless’ uncle to a post office in a bid to claim his €246 (£213) pension has been jailed.
Declan Haughney, 40, of Pollerton Road in Carlow, pleaded guilty to deception after taking Peadar Doyle, 66, into Hoseys Post Office on January 21 last year.
Gareth Coakley, 38, of John Sweeney Park in Carlow, also admitted the same offence.
CCTV captured the pair dragging Mr Doyle along the street and into the post office, before making their way to the front counter, Dublin Live reports.
Police said Haughney showed the late Mr Doyle’s social welfare card in a bid to collect the pension, while placing his uncle slumped against a door.
Mr Doyle was subsequently discovered to be deceased inside the post office.
At a sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Eugene O’Kelly said the pair had ‘a callous disregard for the dignity and welfare of a dying man’ and ‘literally abandoned him on the floor of the post office’, Daily Star reports.
Haughney and Coakley were each handed a jail sentence of two-and-a-half years with the final six months suspended.
In a victim impact statement, Peader Doyle’s sister Noeleen Dowling – also the aunt of Haughney – said the family were hurt by his failure to raise the alarm sooner and that her brother’s death had been ‘reduced to a macabre spectacle and his dignity was taken away from him’.
