MAIN FINDINGS:The inquiry into the arrest and detention of 14-year-old Clonmel schoolboy Brian Rossiter concluded it was "not satisfied" that the youth was assaulted by gardaí either during his arrest or subsequent detention in Clonmel Garda station.
The inquiry by senior counsel Hugh Hartnett considered evidence from 99 witnesses, including a man and a woman who testified that they saw Brian Rossiter being assaulted by gardaí when they arrested him for an alleged public order offence in Clonmel on September 10th 2002.
However, the inquiry noted that the man said he saw the assault take place as the youth was being arrested on Marystone Mall, whereas the arrest did not take place there. It also said the woman's evidence was "unclear and, at times, contradictory".
The evidence of a man arrested by gardaí and in custody in Clonmel that night, identified as Mr C, that he had seen Brian Rossiter being assaulted by gardaí in the station was found to be "thoroughly unreliable and lacking in credibility".
The inquiry treated as unreliable the evidence of two boys detained along with Brian Rossiter who claimed to have been assaulted in the station. One of them claimed Brian Rossiter had told him from his cell that he had been beaten by gardaí, saying 'Yeah, they killed me, too."
The inquiry found that medical evidence on injuries noted at the youth's post mortem by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy was complicated by the fact that he had suffered injuries during an assault by Noel Hannigan on September 9th - over 36 hours before his arrest.
Mr Hartnett said forensic pathologist for the inquiry, Prof Anthony Busuttil and forensic pathologist for the Rossiters, Prof Christopher Milroy, both believed an extradural haematoma to Brian Rossiter's head had most likely been caused about the time of his arrest. However, Mr Hartnett noted that Dr Cassidy thought it was not possible to date the time of the injury on the basis of the forensic material available.
And he said the inquiry was also of the view that "the rarity of such occurrences must be seen in the light of the well-established fact that Brian Rossiter had been severely assaulted in the area of the head on 9th of September 2002".
The inquiry also noted that the injury could have been caused by trauma other than assault and noted that Prof Milroy agreed that it could have been the result of his falling to the ground or falling from the window sill on which he was sitting. The inquiry is of the view that the medical evidence does not establish that the injury which caused the extra-dural haematoma in Brian Rossiter was caused by an assault in the course of his arrest or during the course of his detention but only that it is statistically more likely to have occurred during this period," said Mr Hartnett. However, Mr Hartnett was critical of the Garda investigation of Brian Rossiter's death, saying that all the circumstances were not fully investigated and all witnesses were not interviewed. He noted that were it to happen now, the investigation would be by an independent body.
"The documentation produced in the course of the investigation into the death of Brian Rossiter and the evidence heard at this inquiry does not show any indication of there being any real investigation in relation to the possibility of Brian Rossiter having been assaulted or his having received a fatal injury while in custody," he noted.
Irish Council for Civil Liberties director Mark Kelly said Mr Hartnett's report clearly showed a violation by gardaí of Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights due to the absence of an effective Garda investigation.
"The Irish Council for Civil Liberties trusts that, were such tragic events ever to recur, they would be investigated by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in a way which is fully compliant with Ireland's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights."
Garda Representative Association president John Egan said its members welcomed the findings that "there was no assault by a member of An Garda Síochána, either during the arrest or whilst in Garda custody".
