A man who was jailed after he beat his nephew until the boy foamed at the mouth has killed himself in prison. James McGreevy-Simpson (27) was found hanging in his cell at Wheatfield Prison just before 9 p.m. on June 26th.
He was resuscitated by prison staff and was taken to Tallaght Hospital, where he died a short time later. News of his death had not been reported until yesterday.
McGreevy-Simpson was jailed in April for three years after he beat his four-year-old nephew with a belt and failed to seek medical attention for him when he suffered seizures. Such was the nature of his crime that he feared for his safety in prison and was transferred to a segregation cell, at his own request, where he hanged himself from a cell window using a ligature.
McGreevy-Simpson, of Tymonville Road, Tallaght, pleaded guilty to three counts of assault causing harm to the boy and to two counts of wilful neglect, of his now eight-year-old nephew, between August 5th and 30th, 2000.
When the child's mother was summoned in the early hours of August 30th he was found to have "well in excess" of 35-40 bruises on his body and had twice suffered serious seizures. Her son had been in her brother's care for more than two weeks and his mother, who had been expecting him back a few days previously, had been told she could not have him back just yet because he was on holiday in Mosney.
She found him on his uncle's bed having a fit. He was "shaking like a leaf", he was "cold as ice" and he was "foaming at the mouth", McGreevy-Simpson's trial was told.
The Irish Prison Service said a full investigation into the suicide, the third within the prison system this year, was currently under way.
