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