A 38-year old man has apologised to the family of an Ennis man for putting them though what’s been described as "three weeks of hell" by not telling them that the missing man’s dead body was in his apartment all that time.
Ennis Circuit Court has heard that the badly decomposed remains of 25 year old Frankie Hassett were found in the shower area of an apartment rented by Bernard Flaherty of 3 Lifford Lodge, Lifford, Ennis on July 3rd 2011.
Frankie Hasset was reported missing on June 20th 2011 and ‘a major search operation’ was mounted, involving 837 Garda hours before the grim discovery of his Mr Hassett’s body on July 3rd.
Sergeant Catriona Houlihan told the court that Bernard Flaherty was the last person to have been with Mr Hassett on June 14th and that Mr Hassett’s family pleaded with him for any information on Frankie’s whereabouts to be told by Mr Flaherty that he hadn’t seen him after ten past eight that night.
Arising from inconsistencies in a statement, Gardaí interviewed him again on July 3rd when he broke down and admitted that Mr Hassett’s body was in his shower.
In a statement, Mr Flaherty said that Frankie Hassett stayed at his apartment for one night and they took prescription drugs – he discovered him to be blue and cold the following morning and placed him under the shower in an attempt to revive him.
He didn’t tell Gardaí that Mr Hassett’s remains were in his apartment because he believed that he would be blamed for his death.
Bernard Flaherty has pleaded Guilty to making a false statement to Gardaí and will be sentenced next February.
