Another death in Garda custody

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Wednesday April 21, 2010 12:43

by dD

It's being reported by the he Garda Ombudsman that a man has been found dead in a garda cell in Dublin.

The man was arrested for a public order offence on Tuesday evening and held at Tallaght Garda Station where he was found dead at 9.30 last night.

protesters at a march to Store Street Garda Station

There have been a number of deaths in Garda custody over the last few years. There is no system of independent inspection of garda cells and checking on those in custody, such as is normal in the North. In this jurisdiction, prisoners in garda cells are usually cut off from anyone outside for long periods, with only cursory checks on their welfare.

There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence of people being assaulted by gardaí while in custody.

Five years ago, a young man from Dublin's North Inner City died in hospital after a short period of detention in Store Street Station. The Garda Ombudsman wrote a report on the case despite the case being outside its remit (the incident happened before it was set up). The report, heavily reliant on anonymous interviews with gardaí, was widely seen as a whitewash.

There is no structure in place for open inquiries into deaths in custody whereby gardaí and other witnesses could be cross examined.

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Comments (6 of 6)

UK system

by Always Carry A Bible

Thu Apr 22, 2010 13:50

While there is an 'independent' investigation mechanism for things like deaths in police custody in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK there have still been over a thousand deaths in police custody since 1969 and precisely 0 convictions.

The IPCC was formed in 2004 to oversee complaints against the cops in England and Wales and has so far done everything possible to eschew the 'independent' aspects of its role. The notion that 'justice' will prevail just because a slightly different part of the establishment is investigating itself (eg the Garda Ombudsman) should not be entertained.

http://www.injusticefilm.tv/
http://inquest.gn.apc.org/
http://www.seanriggjusticeandchange.com/

Another brick in the wall ? ( of silence )

by Sceptic - None whatsoever .

Thu Apr 22, 2010 22:33

Shocking news altogether , absolutely appalling to read of this tragedy .

Jumping to conclusions...

by DT

Fri Apr 23, 2010 23:14

lets not start jumping to conclusions. this article sheds some light on the situation...
maybe the banging his head into an esb box shortly before contributed. its surely as possible as any police brutality...

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/man-who-di....html

Rag

by Hanner

Fri Apr 23, 2010 23:41

Wow - that's some job the Herald did on him. Quite a serious character assassination.

It's all completely irrelevant of course, except the bit which said he was banging his head against the junction box. But that was sourced to "local reports". I wonder if thses "local reports" wore blue uniforms?

Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:36

we'll have to wait and see i suppose..

Cop beating leads to death, just after being in custody

by cops kill

Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:30

Garda pounded victim on ground with baton, trial told

A garda "whipped" and "pounded" a man with his baton while he was on the ground, a court was told yesterday.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told that the alleged victim died later that day but that the prosecution accepted that this was due to a drug overdose and unrelated to the garda's actions.

Garda Brendan Whitty (33), stationed at Kevin Street garda station, denies assaulting and causing harm to the late Keith Murphy on Thomas Street, Dublin 2, on September 20, 2007.

Shane Costelloe, prosecuting, told the jury that Gda Whitty used his baton while attempting to arrest Mr Murphy. He said he struck him a number of times before other gardai arrived and took Mr Muphy away. Mr Muphy was charged with a public order offence and released soon after.

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Another death in Garda custody

Comments (6 of 6)