A CORONER has suggested reviewing the guidelines of providing foreign language versions of prisoners’ rights upon hearing that an Estonian man died after ramming himself at a steel cell door while in custody in a Garda station.
Cork city coroner Dr Myra Cullinane noted that while regulations governing the detention of people in Garda stations made reference to foreign nationals, the regulations had been drafted in 1987 and failed to take account of the growing foreign national population living in Ireland.
Dr Cullinane was speaking after a jury in Cork returned a verdict of death by misadventure in the case of Sergei Solovie (51), who died on April 30th, 2007, and who was being held in custody in Togher Garda station on April 27th.
Mr Solovie had been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to two windows at Victoria Station apartment block
Garda Gary Hallinan, who was station officer at the time, told the inquest that when Mr Solovie was first brought to the station, he believed he was intoxicated and abusive but said he spoke good English and he believed he understood him telling him his rights.
Mr Solovie had come to Ireland in October 2003 and worked as a welder and fitter until 2004 when he was laid off and had lived in hostels and busked around Cork.
Supt Pat McCarthy of Mallow said he had investigated the Garda handling of the arrest and prepared a file for the DPP, who recommended there be no prosecution of any member of the force.
The postmortem found that Mr Solovie died as a result of breaking a bone in his neck, which led to cardiac arrest.