McDowell orders probe into death of garda cell boy

THE family of a teenager who died after falling into a coma while in garda custody three years ago has cautiously welcomed the decision by the Justice Minister to hold a statutory inquiry into their son’s death.

The grieving father of 14-year-old Brian Rossiter said he was anxious to see the terms of reference of the inquiry in the wake of three years of inaction.

“On reflection, I want to know why he was arrested.

“I want to know what happened to him in the garda station and why there wasn’t a doctor or medical examiner called to examine Brian.

“We have had nothing but silence for the last almost three years. We have just met a brick wall,” Pat Rossiter said yesterday. However, Mr Rossiter said he was unsure if the truth would come out in relation to the death of his son and had serious reservations as to the scope of the inquiry.

Yesterday, Justice Minister Michael McDowell apologised to the family for the manner in which the case had been dealt with to date by his department.

The minister conceded that correspondence from the Rossiter family was inadequately dealt with by his department, and he said that the delay in dealing with it was “indefensible”.

The minister said he reached his decision on an inquiry having studied the garda report which was given to him 10 days ago.

However, a letter sent by a senior department official to the family dated August 2004, made a reference to the garda report being with the department at that juncture. Brian Rossiter had been arrested on suspicion of public order offences in Clonmel, on September 10, 2002, and was held overnight with the consent of his father.

The boy was found in a coma the next day and died two days after he was transferred to hospital in Cork.

Brian had been arrested along with two other boys for public order offences in Mitchell Street, in the Co Tipperary town, at around 9.30pm and was taken to Clonmel Garda Station, where he was put in a cell on his own.

Mr McDowell said the inquiry, headed by senior counsel Hugh Hartnett, would look into whether there was any maltreatment of Brian Rossiter, or any circumstance which gives rise to cause for concern in relation to how members of An Garda Síochána handled his arrest and detention.

He said this inquiry would not cut across legal proceedings which relate to an incident in which Brian received a black eye two days before his arrest.

Mr McDowell also said that since the Garda Síochána Bill, which was passed yesterday by both Houses of the Oireachtas, comes into effect every death in custody will in future be the subject of a mandatory investigation by the newly formed Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.