Gardai cleared over man's death
The Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission report into circumstances surrounding the death of Terence Wheelock
Wednesday March 10 2010
Gardai have been cleared of mistreating an arrested man who died after being found hanging in a garda cell.
The Garda Ombudsman said there were failings in the way Terence Wheelock was monitored in custody but ruled officers were not at fault for his death.
The 20-year-old from Summerhill, in Dublin's north inner city, had been arrested over a stolen car and died three months later in the Mater Hospital on September 16 2005 after slipping into a coma.
He had been found hanging from the cord of his tracksuit bottoms, unconscious, in a cell in Store Street Garda station on June 2.
The Wheelock family fought hard for an independent inquiry into his death insisting that he would not harm himself and had been mistreated.
The report, which followed the Garda Ombudsman's first public interest investigation, said Mr Wheelock's death was not a result of garda mistreatment. However, it identified a number of procedural shortcomings regarding the handling of prisoners in garda custody.
It outlined systemic failures and a lack of clear instruction in several areas which allowed a ligature point to be left in a cell where Mr Wheelock could hang himself from and that officers also allowed him to bring the cord from his tracksuit into the cell. It said official recording of details of his time in custody were inadequate.
But the Ombudsman, which has been investigating allegations for more than two-and-a-half years and uncovered new evidence and witnesses, said there was insufficient evidence of an assault during the arrest and no credible evidence Mr Wheelock had been mistreated or taunted in custody.
It also said allegations that the young man had been sexually assaulted in custody were wholly without foundation.
A lengthy inquest into Mr Wheelock's death at the City Coroner's Court in July 2007 found he died by suicide.
