The upgrading of the investigation into the disappearance of Kerry farmer Michael Gaine came as a surprise when it was announced by the Garda on Tuesday night. But it really should not have.
From the very outset, it never looked like this was a missing persons inquiry, not in any real sense. The missing man’s car was taken away by gardaí for forensic examination a day after he was reported missing. Plant machinery was brought in to search a slurry pit on the farm, which is just outside Kenmare.
This is not how missing persons cases normally unfold, certainly not in the first few days.
Investigating gardaí wasted no time in assuming the worst – that Mr Gaine was dead at the hands of an attacker and his body moved or disposed of to conceal the crime.
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Mr Gaine was last seen in Kenmare on Thursday, March 20th, and was reported missing the following day. When his bronze-coloured Toyota Rav4 was discovered in his farmyard – on the N71 at Carrig East between Kenmare and Moll’s Gap – his wallet and phone were still inside. His disappearance was so sudden and so out of character gardaí suspected foul play from the start.
Garda sources say the investigation team – now investigating a homicide – will have more resources and powers than a missing persons inquiry team.
Former Garda inspector Pat Marry worked on many murder investigations during his time on the force, securing multiple convictions. He said the fact the case was now one of homicide meant local gardaí in Kerry could request assistance from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the force’s serious crimes squad.
Insp Marry said while no information has emerged as to why the investigation had been upgraded, he did not believe this was unusual. He said in many cases an investigation team will have information they guard closely, to the extent it may not even be shared with senior ranking officers or others working on the same inquiry.
“You can have really important information and you don’t want it turning up in the newspapers,” he said, adding that it was possible more progress had been made in the Gaine inquiry than has emerged publicly to date.
[ Michael Gaine: Case of missing Kerry farmer upgraded to homicide by gardaíOpens in new window ]
Last October, gardaí in Co Louth investigating the disappearance of schoolboy Kyran Durnin upgraded what was then a missing persons inquiry to a murder investigation. But in the case of Mr Gaine, the inquiry has been upgraded to one of ‘homicide’ – an unlawful killing, though not necessarily a murder. This appears to allow for the possibility that whoever killed Mr Gaine may not have set out to do so, but in the absence of the missing man’s remains being found, the question remains unanswered.
In the vast majority of cases the remains of the victim are found, almost always at the scene of the killing. It is often not until the results of a postmortem are known that a formal announcement is made confirming that a murder inquiry is under way.
A postmortem is a medico-legal examination carried out by a pathologist which establishes whether violence was inflicted on the deceased and whether it brought about their death. The results of the postmortem dictate the direction of the Garda’s investigation.
They will often yield very specific evidence about the mechanism of a killing. This includes whether a weapon was used, and what type, as well as an estimated time of death and whether the victim was killed where they were found.
In cases like that of Mr Gaine, where a body is not found, the location and time of the victim’s death is not known to gardaí, which greatly complicates the subsequent inquiry.
With a murder scene and time of killing, even basic checks of CCTV and dashcam footage recorded in the vicinity at the relevant time can incriminate a person of interest, catch them in a lie or help discover important witnesses. Human remains, and a crime scene, can also yield significant forensic evidence that might link the killer to the crime.
But with no remains, all of those investigation avenues are simply unavailable.
Legal sources said they knew of no murder conviction which withstood appeal, having been secured in the Republic in a case where a victim’s body was not found.
