'No evidence' riot injury was police assault

An investigation into claims that police officers injured a man who suffered serious head wounds during rioting has found no evidence to back the allegations, said a report from the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman today.

The report said the fact that no members of the public who were in east Belfast’s Short Strand area during the incident in May this year had come forward as witnesses had hampered the investigation.

It concluded the victim could have been hit by one of the missiles being thrown at police at the time of the riot.

The Ombudsman’s office launched the investigation at the request of the Police Service of Northern Ireland following allegations reported in the media that the man may have been beaten by police or hit by a plastic bullet fired by the security forces.

The Ombudsman’s executive director, David Wood, said a painstaking investigation had been carried out but “no evidence was available to show that a single officer had in anyway been responsible for the injuries”.

He said the victim himself did not know how he was injured and had not made a statement to the Ombudsman saying he thought police were responsible.

“Video evidence shows us that there were a lot of people near the man just after he was injured, but either those people did not see what happened or chose not to tell us what they saw,” said Mr Wood.

Investigators studied both police and amateur video footage made available, and while both confirmed plastic bullets had not been fired at the time in question, neither provided evidence of how the man was injured.

The amateur video film showed the man attempting to diffuse a confrontation between police and public, said the report. “He was shown acting as a peacemaker, trying to calm a tense situation,” said Mr Wood.

The film showed the man in front of a police line as a barrage of missiles was being thrown over his head at officers.

“The man did not have the protection of the shields the police officers had, and there is the possibility he was hit by one of these missiles,” added Mr Wood.

He said that there was no actual video evidence which showed how the man got his injuries, similarly, Police Ombudsman staff did not find anyone who actually saw what happened.

Senior staff, including Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan herself, attended a meeting in the Short Strand in the hope that anyone with information would come forward.

“We also delivered 250 letters to householders in the area, but no one, including the person who made the original phone call to the Ambulance Service, came forward to say what they had seen what happened.”

The report has been sent to Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid.