No Justice for Wheelock Family

by Cormac Wed Mar 10, 2010 16:55

Shameful.
The ombudsman has proven to be about as useful as the cops investigating themselves.
Solidarity to the Wheelocks.

by eddie Wed Mar 10, 2010 20:32

sure isn't the office run by ex-cops and their cronies. hopefully the family will go to europe with this.

by Dec McCarthy - WSM pers cap Wed Mar 10, 2010 22:26

The justice for Terence Wheelock campaign has one central demand-an independent public inquiry into the events that led to Terence falling into a coma and his eventual death . To date no such inquiry has occured. Although the family, friends and campaign members never put much store by the Garda Ombudsman's investigation today's report willl do little to allay the legitimate worries that surround the case.

The report is over 190 pages long and will need to be examined in greater detail but it is clear from an initial reading that despite the detail (which in fairness nay have clarified some matters) it completely fails to give a credible account of what happened in Store street.

Overalll, It concludes that although there were a number of procedural and sytemic errors in the handling of the case there was no credible evidence of assault. One 'method' it uses to come to this frankly incredible conclusion by contrasting the 'consistency' of Garda testimonies and the 'inconsistencies' of other eyewitnesses. For instance in the section of the report dealing with the arrest (during which it is believed that there was an assault on Terence Wheelock) we are given the testimonies of Gardai, witnesses and the other lads who were arrested. It points out the anomalies and different emphases given by these witnesses to discredit their claims. The boys in blue on the other hand are all signing perfectly in tune off the same hymn sheet. Ipso facto they most be giving a more credible account of what happened !

Thus it manages to avoid asking the obvious and important questions which emerge from the accounts of this particular event. Like why is there such a massive disparity between how the Gardai describe events and nearly everyone else who was there?According to the Gardai it was all Dixon of dock green on Sean O'Casey avenue -something along the lines of 'the lads put their hands up and then we had a bit of chat on the way to the station' but most of the eyewitnesses talk about scuffles and shouting. I guess you can ask yorself which is more believable.

It appears that for the Ombudsman though consistency is more important than plausibility and damn the cynics who might suggest there might be a bit of pooling of thoughts amongst the Gardai involved in developing their story afterwards or, god forbid that they might have been tempted to dish out a bit of rough justice in the north inner city.

An injury to one is an injury to all

by x.dot.ex. Wed Mar 10, 2010 23:18

Below is the full report for anyone who wants to read it. 200 pages in a PDF.

by susan o mahoney Wed Mar 10, 2010 23:27

In my view, this result was to be expected. The results of investigations into matters like these are similar. No one is held accountable, however errors occured but not any that would be of a disiplinery offence. My heart goes out to the Wheelock family, i doubt if they will sleep tonight. My sister died because gardai failed to do their duty and in an atempt to cover these failures we were treated in an inhumane manner. A complaint to the ombudsman which was delayed by the superintendent involved yielded no answers. When the garda ombudsman investigation commenced they denied bullying us, making insulting remarks about my sister who they knew nothing about, and then claimed they couldnt remember the call for help, and conveniently it wasnt logged on the night. No one was disiplined for the failure to save my sister or the apalling treatment we received. Dont anyone tell me that some gardai are not capable of mistreating people in a ruthless, heartless manner, i know what they are capable of , because i expierenced it myself. We were put through this because they failed us and had to cover themselves at all costs. Larry if you are reading this , please add me as a friend on facebook, we are trying to get in touch with your family, there are a lot of us together on this now.

by insorrow Wed Mar 10, 2010 23:48

"one of the worst stations.......notorious for its violence"

Please provide references to back up this very serious allegation.

If you cannot (as I suspect) you should withdraw it.

Unsubstantiated allegations completely undermines the credibility of everything else alleged by this contributor.

by Wayne - Anti-corruption campaigner Thu Mar 11, 2010 00:22

Can the report be appealed? This is a very sad day for the family. I myself do NOT trust the Gardai WHATSOEVER.

by Marc Spring Thu Mar 11, 2010 00:23

This is a nail in the coffin of the Garda Ombudsman Commission. It won't take many more decisions like this to reduce it to the staus of those Garda internal 'investigations' which nobody ever took very seriously.

Its credibility suffered when it sat on its hands for a long time about the Garda violence in Rossport and then a couple of years later issued a fairly limp response, which was easily ignored by the Gardai. There was no outrage when its call was ignored for a senior guard to be disciplined, for approving the driving of a digger through a crowd of protestors with lowered bucket, injuring at least twenty of them.

Why did we ever believe the verdict on Terence Wheelock would be any different.

by Seano Thu Mar 11, 2010 01:03

Having just read the recommendations in the report, it seems strange that there are no recommendations on procedures to be followed upon discovering injuries or deaths in custody, to minimise the suspicion of foul play.

The intimidation of the Wheelock family should also have been investigated by the Ombudsman.

by Emma Kelly Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:44

To the Wheelock family, from the bottom of my heart im so sorry you have been put through this horrific circumstances. The result's will always come out in their favour, it took them 5 years to think of what to do, and they said right lads we'll get the ruling suicide, then we can say there was some minor faults on the way things were handled so it look like we investigated properly and found some faults. They also dragged it out so long in the hope's that the family are so destroyed, they just might drop the case after all that time. The think we are all fools, my brother lost his life in dublin docklands in 2008. Emergency services were called 16 times and still he was not rescued. Myself and other familys have set up a cause on facebook, so please if the Wheelock family are reading this log on. My prayers are with you all. Now that you have exhausted Irelands Legal system you can go directly to the European high courts.
You have many people behind your family supporting you all the way.
love emma,

by old codger - pensioner Thu Mar 11, 2010 13:52

The people of Rossport were informed by a representative of the Garda Ombudsman that their rulings are subject to aproval by the Minister for Justice and the DPP. This is just one of the many SHAMS of the FIanna Fail crooks to fool the irish people.
THE OMBUDSMAN DOES NOT HAVE INDEPENDANT POWER TO DECIDE ON CORRUPTION OF THE POLICE.
TAKE THE CASE TO EUROPE.
DEMOCRACY IN IRELAND DIED A LONG TIME AGO

by Susan o mahoney Thu Mar 11, 2010 14:32

We should bring in someone such as the FBI, to look into all these deaths and the cover ups and corruption in our government. The whole lot of them should be arrested themselves for what they do to the irish people.

by Federal Bureau of [mis] Information Thu Mar 11, 2010 15:44

FBI... eh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Peltier

THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN THIS SYSTEM

by FX Thu Mar 11, 2010 16:28

Sooooo

No one trusts the GSOC now?

I assume any findings they ever come out with which go AGAINST the Gardai will be treated with similar disdain, yeah?

by Susan o mahoney Thu Mar 11, 2010 20:28

Fx, im sure if we got a result against the gardai, there would be plenty out there that would disagree with that too. Some of the comments here though are from people like myself who have made compaints to the GSOC about mistreatment and failures by the gardai. When you have lost a loved one because of failure of gardai to assist and they, in order to cover up their mistakes treat you in a way that hurts and shocks you to the core of your being , and the result of the investigation ends in no one even receiving a verbal warning, you can then identify with others who are in a similar position. I am a person who have always treated others with respect, and the treatment i received from these so called pillars of society has left me troubled and worried for other grieving families who have lost loved ones due to their failures or alleged abuse. I would probaly have thought the same as you 3 years ago, but through expierience, my eyes are open to a world i never knew existed. I hope any of you who side with the gardai never have to go through what we have been through. I truly wish also that the gardai that have hurt us so badly will never have to go through this either, i wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy.

I guess all these who hurt people so much will someday have to meet their maker, for all the hurt i am in now, i would prefer to meet god in my position, not theirs.

by xo Mon Mar 15, 2010 20:36

pics of Terence's legs

Who did this to Terence?

by jimmy Tue Mar 16, 2010 18:17

Just read the the report very interesting very saddened by the commision failure to address the issue of the bruisng to terence body.
I genuinely had faith in its integrity but that has been comprimised by its biased and down right negligent investigation.

why was the issue of just how did Terence wheelock aquire the bruising to his body, and why all the witness's to assault evidence dismissed and why the gardai actions classifed as "mistakes" misunderstaings" "lack of communication"s
its a joke.

There are three expert opinion on the nature and timing of the bruising to his body, one been are very own Dr Marie Cassidy State patholigist
a Dr Norton of State Science Lab IN PHEONIX PARK, and a independent forensic analyst from england and a a clinical photgrapher from the matear hospital.
They all stated the the yellow and blue colouration of the bruising would lead them to conclude that the bruises would be 18hours old or older this is in the report.
The clinical photographer at the matear hospital decided on her own merit to take pictures of the bruising to terence body on the 3/6/05 one day after terence arrested, the only conclusion the bruising took place on the day of terence arrest. 2/6/05s

Garda publicaly stated they noticed No bruising when he was arrested only to his left arm which is documented in the custody record.
We now know he was covered in bruising when admitted to hospital.
It is higly likey from witness stataments and experts opinion that terence WAS ASSAULTED IN GARDA CUSTODY BY PERSONS UNKNOWN.
THE OMBUDSMAN COMMIISION glossed over this veyr important issue its a disgrace

THE ESTABLISHMENT HAS CLOSED RANKS OMBUDSMAN HAS LET THE PUBLIC DOWN
CONCLUSION: the ombudsman commission is a jumped up version of the police complaints board.

by Fx Wed Mar 17, 2010 13:17

Susan O'Mahoney is still assuming the gardai did something wrong.

Is it not harmful to be using words like 'scum' and 'murderers' and 'corrupt', as people still are in reference to Gardai, AFTER they have been fully exonerated by 1. The coroners court, 2 The independent GSOC, who the Gardai themselves hate and who must be the only ombusman's office ever to tout for business on late night TV?

Why is no one contemplating that what the coroners court AND GSOC found is true; that the Gardai didn't kill him?

by suin Wed Mar 17, 2010 18:46

As usual everyone is wrong except the Indymedia fringe.

We now seem to have a vast conspiracy involving several different bodies to suppress the "truth".

We can have all the inquiries in the world but the reality is that those who hate the Gardai, or are seeking a pretext to sue the State, don't want the truth. They want a result that suits them.

What isn't yet clear is what happened earlier the same day before young Wheelock came into contact with the Gardai. There seems to be little enthusiasm for further inquiries into these events.

by isp Thu Mar 18, 2010 00:36

This report was done behind closed doors. Mr Wheelock died behind closed doors. What's needed is an inquiry where witnesses, including gardai, can be questioned and cross examined.

by asap Thu Mar 25, 2010 20:00

reading about this case it seems very tragic that no real answers as to how this young man cames about these injuries.
in the care of the gaurds,
read some of the report and find it amazing that when he was found slumped unconcious in a garda cell, the jailer opened the door instead of immediately taken him down wasted precious time in CLOSING THE CELL DOOR and calling someone else for help, then the gaurds by there own admissions slapped this lad in the face and threw water over him , i thought in first aid they would of immediately commenced CPR.

guess that was not to be in this case. tragic.

by Sceptic . - None whatsoever . Fri Mar 26, 2010 21:37

Absoloutely appaling circumstances and another young life lost, whatever the reason ....

by An other Victim of Gardai & GSOC Lies. Sat Jun 19, 2010 13:07

First i wish to offer my sorrow to the Wheelock family, your son is at peace now, they can never harm him (AGAIN), RIP Terence. Now i have some thing i would like to add most of us know the Guards can do as they like, when they get a person in the cell your ALL theres and they know it "Who are you going to call the (GUARDS), If you back answer them that is all it takes to get your head kicked in, i know Store Street Garda Station and it gets a pretty bad name alright, but its not the station to look out for its the members in it to watch, we have little THUGS of GUARDS form the West of Ireland and other parts stationed in the likes of Store Street Garda Station, and when they hurt of kill some body they are moved to an other station, "just like the priests and nuns". As for the GSOC what a load of crap the GSOC are the GARDAI trading under a different name, i know that first hand and whats more i know that Mr. Anthony Duggan is as fake as they come, he is the head man in the GSOC, i am waiting for the day that i come face to face with him, and if he is reading this i would like to say to him or any of this little pals "THE NET IS CLOSING IN ON THE GSOC YOU WAIT AND SEE".

I have a name of a very very bad sly evil underhanded guard that might have been stationed in srore street garda stationed at the time they killed the late Mr. Terence Wheelock, if any family member of the LateTerence Wheelock is reading this, could you please tell me was there a garda on duty that day by the name of Garda Christpher White???.