Andrew Carey reports
THE bodies of identical twins who died last May after taking what was described as a “lethal cocktail of drugs” may have been moved while they were unconscious or dead.
Limerick Corners Court was told on Wednesday that 28-year-old twin brothers Peter and Kevin Moran had grazes and scratches on their bodies consistent with being dragged or moved.
In what was described as a “double tragedy”, a verdict of death by misadventure was returned by the court following the results of a toxicology report given by State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy.
Both men died after ingesting a lethal cocktail of heroin mixed with enough quantities of ecstasy and duloxitine to cause toxicity alone, together with olanzapine and flunitrazepa.
The court heard they were found on May 9, 2012 after their mother, Margaret, became concerned that she had not heard from them in almost a week. She said she had a ‘gut feeling’ something was wrong made her way to the apartment in Harvey House, Steamboat Quay where her sons were living.
She told the court she found her sons lying in an unresponsive state on the sitting room floor with their arms outstretched. “Their hands were stone cold and I knew they were dead for a couple of days” her statement said.
The twins’ mother, who prayed over their bodies when she found them said that she “saw no drug paraphernalia around the apartment”.
Peter’s clothes were disturbed and pulled and the pair were last seen alive, at the entrance to lifts in their apartment block, four days prior to the discovery of their bodies.
A statement from Kersten Mehl, the property agent who assisted Ms Moran gain access to her sons’ rented apartment, said that he saw the two bodies on the floor and their hands were blue and outstretched like a cross.
Gardai said there was no sign of a disturbance or forced entry but that evidence of drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment.
Prof Cassidy noted that the “unusual positioning of the bodies” and the way they were found lying, together with the minor grazes and scratches would suggest that there may have been a third person present who “may have panicked”. She said that, aside from the grazing and the unusual positioning of the bodies, there were no other signs of trauma.
However Garda Inspector Luke Conlon said there was no evidence of assault or forced entry.
Twins from a family of six children, Peter and Kevin are survived by parents Greg and Margaret, brothers Greg and John and sisters Eva and Christina.
