Inquest jury calls for public to avoid 'Line'

THE jury at the inquest into the death of murdered Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo last week issued a warning to the public not to walk alone on the shortcut known as Military Path at any time.Returning a verdict of unlawful killing by asphyxia due to manual strangulation, the jury of six men and two women appended the recommendation that pedestrian commuters should not use the walkway that spans from Renmore to Ceannt Station.The inquest heard that the victim’s host in Galway, Martin Tierney, had looked at maps with Manuela and advised her not to travel by the path known locally as 'the Line’.Asked by Coroner Dr Ciarán McLoughlin whether he thought the shortcut to be unsafe, Mr Tierney replied: “I wouldn’t walk it.” The 43 language students who travelled to Galway in October 2007 had attended a presentation prior to departing Switzerland that warned them never to walk alone in Ireland, according to the deposition of college lecturer Kimberley Kremer-Bertschy.However, Sergeant Brendan Carroll told the inquest that...