Prior to Tom Nevin’s murder, there were two separate occasions in 1995 when he received injuries during the early hours of the morning at the pub, without satisfactory explanations.
One such incident was on 10 July 1995. Anthony Doyle was driving the ambulance accompanied by James Smullen of Wicklow District Hospital. Tom Nevin was lying on the floor in the pub semi-conscious, with a wound on the top and towards the back of his head. He didn’t seem to know anything about the incident or how it had happened: in fact, he said he didn’t wish to talk about it.
Doyle saw reading glasses, which were broken, lying some two or three feet from where Tom was lying, and presumed they were his. Tom did not want to go to the hospital, and the ambulance crew had difficulty persuading him to do so. He finally relented and was taken to Casualty at Loughlinstown Hospital.
There was no break-in, and nothing was stolen. Catherine suggested to Gardaí that Tom had fallen when drunk, and had injured himself. They were satisfied that foul play was not an issue.
The second incident happened on 12 October 1995, when Tom Nevin complained of back pains – a result of falling when getting out of bed. There was a strong smell of drink from his breath; again, he was taken to the Casualty department at Loughlinstown Hospital.
Both injuries suffered by Tom could have been of his own making and perhaps due to drink. There is, however, one puzzling aspect to the head wound sustained by Tom. Catherine told Una Doogue, an employee: ‘Tom had been hit during the course of a break-in.’ It was also at that time that she was told by Catherine: ‘There were two ways Tom Nevin would kill himself, either in the car with drink taken or in the course of a break-in.’ Why did she tell Sergeant Daly and Garda Kavanagh that there was no break-in and that Tom’s injuries were as a result of a fall by him when drunk?
The murder investigation was moving on to a more critical stage, with Catherine now firmly the main suspect. The team had now reached the stage where they had names of persons whom Catherine had been in contact with, and whom, it was felt, could provide the vital breakthrough.