Father still struggling with circumstances of ‘unexpected passing’ of Jordan ‘Pako’

A coroner’s court has heard that the father of a young Dublin man who suffered a violent death last year was unable to attend the opening of his son’s inquest because he was still struggling with the circumstances of how his son died, reports Seán McCárthaigh.

Jordan “Pako” Ronan Pakenhan (20), of Rossfield Court, Tallaght, Dublin 24 suffered fatal injuries in an incident at Drumcairn Avenue, Tallaght in the early hours of July 26, 2024.

Gardaí and emergency services received a report of an incident and attended the scene where the victim was found with a serious injury just before 4am.

Mr Ronan Pakenham was brought by ambulance to Tallaght University Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

At the opening of the inquest into his death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court, Inspector Tony Collins said the deceased’s father, Stephen Pakenham, was due to attend the hearing.

However, Insp Collins said a garda acting as a family liaison officer had been unable to contact Mr Pakenham when it appeared he was not in attendance.

Mr Pakenham had been expected to provide evidence in relation to the formal identification of his son’s body.

The inquest heard that he had found it quite difficult to deal with his son’s “unexpected passing.”

However, the coroner, Aisling Gannon said she was satisfied that every effort had been made to secure the attendance of the witness at the hearing and she was happy that a written deposition by Mr Pakenham could be read into the record as evidence.

The coroner also noted that the inquest was attended by the victim’s mother, Sabrina Ronan, and another relative, while other gardaí witnesses had provided evidence about the chain of identity of the body.

Ms Gannon heard that Mr Pakenham had formally identified his son’s body to gardaí at the Dublin City Mortuary in Whitehall three days after his death.

The coroner also revealed that a postmortem showed that Mr Ronan Pakenham died as a result of a single stab wound to the chest with no other contributory factors.

Insp Collins applied for an adjournment of the inquest under Section 25 (2) of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings in relation to the death had already been initiated.

The inspector informed the coroner that a person is due to go on trial before the Central Criminal Court on December 1 next.

Offering condolences to relatives of the deceased, Ms Gannon granted the application and adjourned the inquest to a date to be fixed on the conclusion of any related criminal proceedings.

The accused, Patrick Murphy (36), unemployed of Drumcairn Parade, Tallaght was charged with the murder of Mr Ronan Pakenham on the day after the fatal incident.

A sitting of Dublin District Court heard that when charged with the offence Mr Murphy replied: “I’m real sorry that he died. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

A woman in her 30s was also arrested in connection with the Garda investigation into Mr Ronan Pakenham’s death but was later released without charge.

The deceased’s partner, Lauren Geraghty, was pregnant with the couple’s first child at the time of his tragic death.

It subsequently emerged that he had seen the first ultrasound scan of his baby just hours before the fatal incident.

It was reported that Mr Ronan Pakenham was “over the moon” at the first image of his son.