Man who died after being restrained outside pub suffered fatal neck compression, inquest hears

A man who died shortly after he was restrained following an incident outside a pub in Dublin’s Temple Bar at Christmas last year suffered fatal compression of his neck while face down on the ground, an inquest has heard.

Dan Andrei Alexuc (41), a married father of two from Newcastle, Co Dublin, but originally from Romania, became unwell after being restrained in the early hours of December 14th 2024.

Alexuc, who worked as a service delivery team manager with Circet, was taken to St James’s Hospital in Dublin by ambulance where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Gardaí reported at the time that they had responded to reports of a disturbance outside a licensed premises on Essex Street East shortly before 1am.

They stated they had detained a male whom they had found being restrained by security staff.

Gardaí subsequently sought the assistance of a nearby ambulance crew after Alexuc appeared unwell.

It is understood he had been attending a Christmas party at the time of the incident.

The opening of an inquest into Alexuc’s death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Wednesday heard the results of a postmortem showed he had died from “manual compression of the neck while restrained in a prone position.”

The coroner, Myra Cullinane, said the postmortem conducted by State pathologist SallyAnne Collis had listed acute alcohol intoxication and hypertensive heart disease as contributory factors.

The deceased's wife, Adela Alexuc, gave evidence of formally identifying her husband’s body to gardaí in the emergency department of St James’s Hospital after he had formally been pronounced dead at 1.55am.

Detective Inspector Damien Kelly applied for an adjournment of the inquest under Section 25 (1) of the Coroners Act on the basis that criminal proceedings are being considered in relation to the circumstances of Alexuc’s death.

Det Inspector Kelly told the coroner that a Garda investigation into the case was ongoing.

He said that he anticipated a file would be forwarded to the DPP for direction on “any future actions.”

The fatal incident was also referred to the independent policing watchdog, Fiosrú (previously the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission).

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A representative of Fiosrú, Maria Nicholson, was granted her application for a copy of the postmortem report.

Dr Cullinane observed that Fiosrú’s involvement in the case was confined to the role of gardaí and “not any other actors.”

Offering her condolences to the deceased's relatives who attended the hearing and who were visibly upset, the coroner said she was sure they had gone through very difficult days over the past number of months.

Dr Cullinane granted the application for an adjournment and listed the case for further mention on November 18th.