The mother of a gangland murder victim has described the anguish of finding her son with fatal gunshot wounds in the driveway of her home just before Christmas five years ago.
An inquest into the death of Eric Fowler, heard Therese Esmonde reacted to being informed that her son had been killed by screaming: “My son is dead. My baby.”
Mr Fowler (34), a father of two, died after being ambushed by one or more gunmen who shot him several times, including once in the head, as he got out of his car after arriving back at his family home in Blakestown Cottages, Coolmine on December 22, 2018.
A car which is believed to have been used as a getaway vehicle by his killers was found burnt out a short distance away at Rusheeney Green in Clonsilla.
Ms Esmonde told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Tuesday that she was in her home with her ex-husband, Stephen Fowler, at around 6.50pm on December 22, 2018 when she heard “five pops.”
She said her initial reaction was to think the sound was caused by fireworks. Ms Esmonde recalled that her ex-husband told her to stay in the house while he went to check on the noise.
She said she was in shock and “could not think straight” when he came back in and informed her that their son had been shot and to ring an ambulance.
“My hand was shaking and I was screaming on the phone,” said Ms Esmonde. She described holding her son and thinking she could feel his heartbeat before realising that it was her own.
“His face looked so beautiful and I told him I loved him,” she added. She recalled looking at his face as he was dead on the ground as “the eeriest feeling ever.”
Ms Esmonde said she could not take her eyes off a bullet shell lying near his body. She remembered trying to call people about the shooting and barely being able to explain what had happened.
Ms Esmonde told the inquest that Eric, who operated a car-wash and valeting business from a yard adjoining her house, had popped into her home earlier that day to give his sister, Trudie, a lift home. She said he was “up to his eyes but in great form.”
Ms Esmonde also gave evidence of formally identifying her son’s body to gardaí in the Dublin City Mortuary in Whitehall.
Mr Fowler’s girlfriend, Laura Hegney, told the coroner, Aisling Gannon, that he had never said anything to her about feeling pressure and he had not been fighting with anyone.
“His biggest worry was money – paying bills and the car-wash. He found it hard to juggle a mortgage and bills,” she added. “I don’t know any reason why this would have happened,” remarked Ms Hegney.
She described how they had been in a relationship for about two years and “when we were good, we were great.”
Ms Hegney said Mr Fowley suffered anxiety and panic attacks and that he could be paranoid after taking cocaine. However, she believed he took drugs “to get away from his own demons.”
She recalled her boyfriend as a man who loved to have family days out with his children.
The inquest heard that just days before he was killed, he had surprised Ms Hegney with a present of a holiday to Las Vegas and a bottle of Moët champagne for her birthday.
Ms Hegney told the hearing only a short time before he was murdered that she had dropped him off outside his workplace after they had returned from eating at a restaurant in Blanchardstown.
She recalled how he had given her a hug and a kiss as they made plans to meet up again later that evening. The inquest heard Mr Fowler’s father refused to leave the scene when directed by gardaí and was not cooperative.
However, he eventually moved behind an outer cordon after being spoken to by a senior officer.
A paramedic who attended the scene, David Hogan, said Mr Fowler had suffered injuries incompatible with life and the inquest heard he was pronounced dead at 7.05pm.
Detective Sergeant Damien Mangan told the coroner that Ms Hegney’s vehicle was also seized to check if it had been fitted with a hidden tracking device, while CCTV footage was recovered from a GAA club located across the road from the scene of the shooting.
Despite a wide and extensive investigation, Detective Inspector Liam Donoghue, said no prosecutions were pending against anyone in relation to Mr Fowler’s death.
The Chief State Pathologist, Linda Mulligan, told the inquest that a post-mortem examination of Mr Fowler’s body showed that he had been hit with four, and possibly five bullets.
Dr Mulligan explained that the uncertainty about the number of bullets was due to the fact that one bullet may have exited and re-entered the deceased’s body through his neck.
She said one bullet to his head would have caused bleeding around the brain stem, while he suffered three bullet wounds to the chest which fractured ribs and vertebrae as well as causing significant blood loss.
Dr Mulligan said each bullet wound on its own had the potential to be fatal. The post-mortem also revealed some evidence of recent cocaine use as well as a small, potentially malignant tumour in his adrenal gland.
The pathologist said Mr Fowler had died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to the head and back with no other contributory factors. A jury of five women and four men returned a verdict of unlawful killing by persons unknown.
Offering her condolences to Mr Fowler’s mother and girlfriend, the coroner also expressed her gratitude to gardaí for their work and effort in the investigation of his death.
Mr Fowler is believed to have been the 18th victim of the bloody feud between the rival Kinahan and Hutch criminal gangs.
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