I won’t face trial, says ‘assisted suicide’ cleric

A RELIGIOUS minister at the centre of an inquiry into Ireland’s first assisted suicide last night confidently predicted he would never face a court here.

Rev George Exoo, from West Virginia in the US, said he had been told the governor of his home state refused to back his extradition, as counselling a suicide victim prior to death was not a crime so long as no physical help was given. Rev Exoo, who with his partner Thomas McGurrin, was present when Rosemary Toole-Gilhooley died in a south Dublin apartment in late January, said he had heard nothing from either gardaí or the police in the US. "They have not done anything. I think it's kind of dead in the water," said Rev Exoo.

Ms Toole-Gilhooley, 49, died after placing a plastic bag over her head and inhaling helium gas through a tube Rev Exoo claimed the Dublin

woman had sourced the materials in Ireland and had five tanks of helium, enough, he said, to kill 10 people.

Ms Toole-Gilhooley was in touch with the elderly Canadian right-to-die-activist Evelyn Martens, the West Virginia minister said. Ms Martens, 71, is facing charges in her home country of assisting in the deaths of two people, including a former nun.

Rev Exoo who has close ties with her supporters claimed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began their investigation into Ms Martens after being in contact with gardaí investigating the Toole-Gilhooley death.

"The guards sent e-mails to British Columbia."

Gardaí investigating the Dublin woman's death have consistently said the probe was continuing. As far back as early April, a Garda spokesman said detectives would travel the following week to speak with Rev Exoo. They have not yet done so.

"They kept saying every week they were coming over, but it just didn't happen," Rev Exoo said.

The minister said he would never go back to Ireland. "I think I'd be arrested, don't you think so." He and his accomplice would face up to 14 years in jail if brought to trial and convicted of counselling at the scene of, or assisting, a suicide.

Rev Exoo said last night his conscience remains clear over Ms Toole-Gilhooley's death. "People are extremely grateful that I am present and that I am a minister," he said.