A Drogheda taxi driver has told an inquest hearing that a 33-year-old man she was driving from Drogheda to Balbriggan suddenly opened the car door and started looking for things to throw at her. The inquest was enquiring into the death of Olamide Patrick Adekunle with an address in Balbriggan who went missing on 11 th September 2024 and whose body was discovered in Co Meath on 17 th September that year.
Taxi driver Grace Owe’s statement was read into the record by Coroner for Meath Nathaniel Lacy. She said that on 11 th September she received a booking request from a person at Newtown Meadows, Drogheda. When she arrived at the address no one came out and she called the number given on the booking. She was about to leave when three men came out and said they didn’t know she was there and said their friend should be taken to Balbriggan and they would be paying in cash.
The drop-off address in Balbriggan was Barons Hall Park. She started the journey and Mr Adekunle was in the back seat. He was constantly asking how much longer the journey would take. She said she kept giving him updates and talked to him to keep him awake. As she travelled through Gormanston towards Balbriggan he became aggressive and started screaming “Get me back to Drogheda” and was calling her names. She rang his friend who made the booking to try to get her passenger to calm down.
She was passing the huntsman Pub when he suddenly opened the door when she was still moving. She immediately stopped the car. He was walking back towards Drogheda and “started looking for things to throw at me”. She said she got scared and left. She said her passenger was very drunk and acting erratically, the inquest in Trim Courthouse was told.
Following Mr Adekunle’s disappearance Gardai put out a pubic appeal for information about his whereabouts. Garda Goldrick gave evidence that on 16 th September he was detailed to conduct a search in relation to a missing person, He carried out the search from 8.30am to 3pm. At approximately 1.15pm he searched around the L16162 Richardstown, Gormanston. At 1.32 he came across a body lying in the ditch along that road. He alerted the garda search coordinator. A scene of crime was established.
There had been a full Garda investigation but there were no suspicious circumstances attached to the death. Mr Adekunle’s brother Ola who attended the inquest gave evidence of identity to Garda Samantha Meehan. Consultant pathologist Professor Muna Sabah told the inquest the post mortem on Mr Adekunle’s body had been performed by State Pathologist Dr Sally Ann Collis. The deceased had a number of abrasions. Toxicology test showed the deceased had a low level of alcohol in his blood at 23/100. The pathologist had concluded that death was due to hypothermia with alcohol intake also a factor. The coroner returned a verdict of misadventure. He and Inspector Alan Roughneen expressed their condolences to Mr Adekunle’s family.
