Friend: Rossiter got ‘a few slaps’ from gardaí

A FRIEND of Brian Rossiter yesterday told an inquest into the 14-year- old’s death that he was hit “a few slaps” by more than one garda after being arrested on the night of September 10, 2002.

Daniel Leahy, who was also 14 at the time, said he couldn’t remember a lot about the night, but remembered getting hit in the Clonmel Garda station and was able to name one of the gardaí involved.

He also claimed in a deposition, made a month ago, that gardaí tried to “coerce” him into saying that Brian Rossiter had taken ecstasy tablets on the night of the arrest.

Earlier in the night, he said, he and Brian and other friends were at a flat in Clonmel where they drank some cider and had “a couple of pulls” from three or four joints of cannabis. He denied that they had taken ecstasy.

They were arrested on the street and brought separately to the Garda station. Mr Leahy said he remembered “shouting and banging the cell door”.

The next morning, September 11, he saw Brian lying on the ground after being brought out of another cell.

“I knew something was up,” said Mr Leahy. After Brian was brought to hospital, Daniel was interviewed by gardaí, one of whom said to him that Brian was taking ecstasy the night before.

“I went a bit mad about that because I knew that he was not taking ‘E’,” Mr Leahy said. “I’m pretty sure he was trying to coerce me into saying he was taking ‘E’.”

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane and jury members were shown photographs of Brian Rossiter taken during the postmortem on September 13 at Cork University Hospital.

Forensic imagery interpreter Jacqueline Pestell said grazing on the left side of the face was not evident in CCTV footage, featuring Brian Rossiter, taken on September 10 at a Spar shop in Clonmel.