A coroner has hit out at a PSNI request to delay an inquest into the murder of a pizza delivery driver in west Belfast.
Father-of-one Kieran McManus (26)was shot dead outside a Domino’s Pizza outlet on Kennedy Way in March 2013.
The murder was claimed by the Continuity IRA, although it was later suggested the attack was carried out by criminals who had been expelled from dissident republican groups.
At a Coroners Court hearing in Belfast yesterday, a legal representative for the PSNI requested that the scheduled September date for an inquest into Mr McManus’s murder be postponed as it might “prejudice” an ongoing criminal investigation unrelated to the 2013 shooting.
The lawyer said the forthcoming trial would make it “impossible” for the McManus inquest to take place in September.
Coroner Paddy McGurgan agreed on the “potential difficulty” caused by the date, but said he was “absolutely appalled” that the application by the PSNI was being made at such a late stage.
“When I give dates for an inquest I don’t expect them to be moved,” he told the court.
Mr McGurgan said the delay would be “very, very traumatic” for the McManus family, but added the situation now meant that if legal complications arise as a result of not delaying the inquest, it would “never get off the ground”.
A solicitor for the victim’s family meanwhile said a discussion would take place with the McManus family on whether or not they wished to have a jury at a future inquest.
