‘Proceedings not for financial gain’

THESE proceedings were not taken for financial gain, according to the Rossiter family’s solicitor Cian O’Carroll, but because after two years the Justice Minister and the gardaí had failed to deal with the allegations of assault on Brian.

It was with utter frustration, he said, and the belief that something had happened that the family commenced the High Court proceedings, which included a claim that Brian had been assaulted or battered in the course of his detention or that other unlawful actions had been done to him which had caused his death. It was those claims, the solicitor said, that were settled yesterday at the instigation of the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice.

For the family it was the culmination of four extremely difficult years and overall it was six years since Brian had died. And while the state/gardaí acknowledged that there was no proper investigation of his death at the time — the reality was that there had been no investigation of Brian’s death.