An ‘unborn’ child, who died in a horrific two-car collision in Tipperary in 2012, will be issued with a death certificate, marking an apparent legal first in Ireland.
Clonmel Coroner’s Court this week held the death of baby girl, Mollie, to be one of stillbirth caused by a lack of oxygen due to the injuries sustained by the mother.
The tragic incident occurred near Bansha in March 2012 and left Mollie’s mother, Mary Enright, and 17 year old Robert Stoker dead.
Was Mollie ever born?
An inquest into the deaths heard Coroner Paul Morris state that one of the problems in classifying Mollie’s death was whether she had been born.
“In essence, to die you have to prove you are born,” he is reported as saying in the Irish Independent.
The article goes on to state that Mr Morris was satisfied that the separation of the unborn child from the mother, during an autopsy, can be deemed a birth under the relevant legislation.
Possible Constitutional Challenge
Mrs Enright’s father is reported by the newspaper as being disappointed that the coroner did not view the death of Mollie as one caused by road traffic accident and has pledged to take a constitutional challenge to the High Court.
Mrs Enright’s husband Patrick and fellow passenger Jack Leacy survived the collision which occurred after Mr Stoker was reported missing by his mother.
The inquest head Mr Stoker had acted “totally out of character” by taking his mother’s car without consent and subsequently veered across the road leaving Mrs Enright no opportunity to avoid the fatal collision.
A GSOC inquiry after the events exonerated all Garda officers involved in the missing persons investigation triggered by Mr Stoker’s sudden disappearance.
Mollie Enright was registered as a road traffic victim in 2016.The only still in the womb baby in Europe ever to be registered as a road traffic victim.so we now have a baby killed in a road crash and is registered as a stillbirth.Unusual I would say