‘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.

The family noted that the people responsible for the failure to investigate had not been disciplined and it appears that the Garda Commissioner is satisfied they are never to be disciplined.

While Mr Rossiter said he would have preferred their day in court, Mr O’Carroll described the settlement as “tactical litigation by the state”, as they had tendered €175,000 in the case plus costs. Since the valuation of a child’s death was limited under Irish law to a pain and suffering amount of €25,000-plus expenses, the damages value of a child’s death could never be more than €30,000 to €35,000. If they had gone ahead with the case and won it they would never have been able to reach the €175,000 figure and they would have to pay all the costs in the case lasting about two or three weeks — a situation potentially ruinous for the family.

Mr O’Carroll said the state had offered a sum and the court had accepted it. He said the family had asked that any financial part of the settlement would be a sum to reflect the sincerity of the regret of the state.