Press Release
Mary Lou McDonald has noted the release of the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission's report into the death of Terence Wheelock. Terence Wheelock died in 2005 in the Mater Hospital after being in a coma for three months. He never regained consciousness after a period of detention in Store Street Garda Station. In 2006, an inquest jury found 4:3 in favour of a verdict of death by suicide.
The GSOC report sought to deal with allegations regarding Terence's treatment by gardaí, including reports from witnesses that he was assaulted while being arrested; and that he was taunted, beaten and mistreated while in custody.
Blood stains and bruises on Terence Wheelock's body and clothing had led to speculation that he had been sexually assaulted in Store Street Station.
Ms McDonald said "The Garda Ombudsman report is long and thorough, but it did not allow for witnesses to be cross examined. The circumstances of Terence Wheelock's detention and death are still not completely clear, and questions remain about the behaviour of gardaí and their treatment of him."
She continued: "Terence's family do not accept that he was suicidal, and have called for a public inquiry into the circumstances of his death. In view of the fact that such an inquiry would allow cross examination of witnesses including gardaí, I support the Wheelock family in this call".
Mary Lou McDonald has also called for the recommendations contained in the report to be implemented. She said: "Death and injury in custody must be treated extremely seriously. The calls in the Ombudsman's report for safety equipment, custody records and cctv are the very least that should be expected in the treatment of prisoners. They should implemented in full without delay".
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The Wheelock family have chosen to release postmortem pictures of Terence's injuries to journalist Ken Foxe. You can see one of them here- Ken Foxe's blog
