2 Years Later, and Still No Justice

dublin | crime and justice | news report Tuesday August 07, 2007 17:40 by ronan - WSM 1st of May

The Garda Ombudsman has announced that it will begin an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Terence wheelock and his eventual death following injuries sustained while in custody at Store Street Garda station in June. This announcement follows two years of denial and cover up by the Gardai and the political establishment.

Another Death in Garda Custody?

The Garda Ombudsman has announced that it will begin an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Terence wheelock and his eventual death following injuries sustained while in custody at Store Street Garda station in June. This announcement follows two years of denial and cover up by the Gardai and the political establishment. Although Gardai claim that his injuries resulted from a suicide attempt there are many facts that throw doubt on this account. Despite custody records saying that there were no injuries on Terence’s body, photographs taken while Terence lay in a coma clearly indicate bruises and lacerations on his body. Terence had no history of depression, so why would he suddenly decide to kill himself? Clearly, these questions are important enough to warrant an independent inquiry; we cannot trust the State to investigate itself.

But the wheelock’s tireless campaign for an independent inquiry has met with nothing but resistance from the police and the political establishment. It took a year of legal pressure for Gardai to release Terence’s clothes to the family, the cell was renovated immediately after the incident and independent experts were denied access. While the political establishment has failed to acknowledge the wheelock’s demands, their community has rallied around them, and forced this to become an issue. Gardai responded to this community based campaign with their own campaign, one of intimidation and harassment, to the extent that Terence’s parents have been forced to leave their family home in Summerhill. Meanwhile, Gardai launched a token enquiry which was carried out by Garda Oliver Hanly who had served for over fifteen years in Store Street; unsurprisingly he found no evidence of Garda wrongdoing.

A Coroner’s Court investigation that concluded in July was also insufficient; it refused to hear evidence from independent forensic experts, relying instead on the evidence of State Pathologist Marie Cassidy who argued in favour of her Garda chums. Independent reports commissioned by the wheelock family have thoroughly discredited the official story; a report written by engineer J. Kirwan Browne has argued that photographs of Terence’s cell are inconsistent with Garda accounts and in fact indicate reconstruction of evidence while forensic reports on Terence’s clothes have found evidence of injuries that could not be caused by a hanging attempt, but the court would not allow this evidence to be presented.

It remains to be seen whether the Ombudsman’s inquiry will truly be independent; most likely it will only make some small complaints, if it does find against the Gardai it will probably only be ‘one or two bad apples’ who will be sent off on early retirement and a full pension. What the report will not touch is the culture of silence and untouchability that pervades the Gardai and allows them to literally get away with murder. The silence of the political establishment has shown that the State does not like to discipline its own enforcers; in circumstances like these it’s up to ordinary people to organise and demand justice for themselves. The wheelock family’s courage and persistence is an inspiration to us all.