Family of murdered Seamus Doherty ‘devastated’ state will not proceed with case

The Family of Donegal man Seamus Doherty, who was murdered in at his home at Drumacnoo, Churchill, Letterkenny in June of 2012, say they are devastated at the decision to not proceed with a prosecution in the case.
Samuel James Clarke, from Magherennan, Raphoe was charged with the murder of the 67-year-old and was due to go on trial at the Central Criminal Court on Monday
However, Brendan Grehan SC prosecuting told the court the State would not be proceeding with the prosecution.
Speaking to Highland Radio News today Catriona Doherty, daughter of Seamus said:
“We are devastated at the decision not to proceed with the prosecution of Samuel James Clarke for the murder of our father. We consider that an Garda Síochána has serious questions to answer regarding its failure to properly preserve the crime scene and to conduct a proper technical examination leading to crucial lost evidential opportunities which, coupled with the inexcusable delay in bringing the prosecution, has irredeemably prejudiced the prospect of the State securing a successful conviction against Mr Clarke.
In fact an Garda Síochána gave Mr Clarke a lift home on the evening of the murder, failing to treat him as a suspect, despite our father having sustained obvious injuries, and then permitted him to return to the scene on the following day to remove his vehicle.
We will now be asking the DPP for detailed reasons for the decision to halt the prosecution and will be applying to the Coroner to resume the inquest into our father’s murder. We will also consider all available legal remedies open to us.”