A Garda review has begun into the death of a man in Co Offaly in 2002 which had been attributed to accidental drowning despite his family's insistence that the matter should have been treated as a homicide.
The Irish Timeshas also learned that a file on the case has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions after shortcomings emerged in how the initial investigation was conducted.
Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings, who is the senior officer in charge of the eastern region, has been asked by Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy to take a lead role in reviewing the investigative shortcomings.
He has also been asked by Mr Conroy to review interviews given to RTÉ last month by the dead man's family and friends who claimed the deceased was assaulted on the night he died.
Shane Tuohey (23), of Rahan, Co Offaly, went missing on February 2nd, 2002, after a night out socialising in Clara, Co Offaly. His body was found in the nearby river Brosna a week later.
The then State pathologist, Prof John Harbison, carried out a postmortem and concluded the victim had died from drowning. Foul play was not suspected. However, members of the dead man's family and other people known to him have expressed reservations about the Garda's investigation.
Mr Tuohey's father, Eamon Tuohey, has said he informed gardaí of information he had learned about an assault on his son the night he went missing. He believes this assault may have resulted in his death. However, he claims this was not investigated to his satisfaction by gardaí.
It has been alleged that the dead man was targeted on the night by a group of local men who had subjected him to a campaign of harassment in the period before his death.
Mr Tuohey has claimed that one of the group has since told him that his son was hit on the head by an opening car door as he bent down to look into a vehicle during an altercation in Clara on the night he went missing.
The family says the scene at the river bank where his body was found was not preserved for examination.
Two US pathologists the Tuoheys hired to carry out an independent inquiry both concluded that the case should have been treated as a homicide.
An inquest in April 2004 into Mr Tuohey's death concluded that he had drowned.
However, a second investigation into the death was begun after Mr Tuohey's family raised their concerns with the Garda authorities. This concluded that while there were shortcomings in the initial investigation, these did not affect its outcome.
State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy also reviewed the opinions of the two US pathologists and found nothing to contradict the original findings of Prof Harbison or the inquest verdict.
However, following an investigation by RTÉ last month, Assistant Commissioner Jennings has now been asked to carry out his review.
He will report to Mr Conroy on what action has been taken in relation to the investigative shortcomings. He will also study the allegations made by the Tuoheys, and will prepare a report on these for Mr Conroy and the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell.
