‘No garda fault’ in suicide ordeal
Anthony Ward, 32, from Crumlin, south Dublin, shot himself after his girlfriend managed to escape and he was pursued on January 27, 2015 by patrolling gardaí in south Dublin.
In its report, GSOC praised the “strong co-operation” they received from gardaí which resulted in an “expeditious investigation”.
GSOC had been automatically referred the case by gardaí as it had been one where a person was seriously harmed in an incident involving contact with gardaí.
Ward had arrived at 9.30pm on January 26 at the home of his girlfriend Niamh Fitzpatrick and threatened to harm her with a knife. He took her from her apartment and forced her to drive him to a relative’s house in her car. He continued to be violent and punched her in the mouth during the car journey, which caused one of her teeth to fall out.
When they got to the relative’s house, Ward went in briefly. When she tried to escape he came back out and caught her and dragged her back into the car.
A witness rang Garda Command and Control about the incident.
As Ms Fitzpatrick drove away, she saw he had a gun in his hand.
The girlfriend said Ward talked about driving them up to the mountains and maybe shooting both of them, or just himself.
Ward drove towards the M50 and stopped at a service station. He told his girlfriend to go in and buy a cigarette lighter, threatening to kill her if she did not return.
At the garage, the woman ran into the shop and asked staff to press the panic alarm and contact gardaí.
A marked garda car was on patrol at the time in the vicinity and the gardaí saw the woman running towards the shop and a car exiting the forecourt at speed.
They pursued the car and informed Garda Command and Control. A second garda vehicle in the area also pursued the car.
The car went around a roundabout over the M50 and failed to stop at red lights, before exiting on the Tallaght Road heading towards Templeogue.
As the car approached the Spawell roundabout, a third garda patrol car stopped on the meridian markings on the roundabout and activated its blue lights.
Ward drove passed but hit the kerb, causing the car to spin 180 degrees before coming to a halt.
“There was no physical contact between the car being driven by Anthony Ward and any of the Garda vehicles during the brief pursuit,” said the report.
It said accounts of both gardaí and independent witnesses confirmed that Ward exited with a revolver in his hand “which he pointed in the direction of gardaí approaching him”.
Ward walked over to a grass verge and shot himself.
The GSOC report said there was “no evidence of garda misconduct or wrongdoing at any stage of their involvement with Mr Ward during this incident”.
