Cian O'Carroll, Lynch and Partners, represents the Rossiter Family at the Inquiry. Here he explains the current status of the ongoing Brian Rossiter Inquiry. April 2006

The Brian Rossiter Inquiry is a statutory inquiry, established by the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell T.D., into the circumstances surrounding the arrest, overnight detention and subsequent death of the late Brian Rossiter at Clonmel Garda Station in September 2002.

This is a private inquiry which means that the press are excluded so since it began hearings on the 5th December, 2005, there has been no press reporting of the evidence being heard and while Lynch and Partners on behalf of our clients the Rossiter family have objected strenuously to the private nature of the proceedings, we have respected the reporting ban on evidence imposed by the chairman of the inquiry, Mr. Hugh Hartnett, Senior Counsel.

Quite naturally, there is great public interest in the case, relating as it does to the death of a 14 year old boy in controversial circumstances following a period of police custody. Visitors to this site will find information on the issues in the case and links to some of the more informative media coverage to date.

The Inquiry is taking place in Dublin and while it opened on the 18th October, 2005, it began hearing witnesses on the 5th December, 2005. Since then it has been sitting on an almost daily basis. To date it has heard evidence from 66 witnesses and there are approximately 40 witnesses still to give evidence. It is expected that it will take until July to complete hearings following which there will be closing statements from the various parties.

There are 4 legal teams involved in the Inquiry. The Minister for Justice is represented by the Inquiry team itself and calls witnesses and examines them on oath. Witnesses are then in turn cross examined as the need arises by lawyers for the Garda Representative Association on behalf of the 6 serving gardai who are the subject of the inquiry, lawyers for a retired garda superintendent who is also a subject of the inquiry and by the Lynch and Partners team on behalf of the Rossiter family.

Following the completion of oral evidence, it is expected that it will take the inquiry team some months to consider the evidence and prepare a report which will then be sent to the Minister for Justice who has give assurances that the report will then be published.

The key concern of the Rossiter family is that even if the report concludes that Brian Rossiter was unlawfully detained and /or was assaulted in the course of his arrest or detention, limitations in the terms of reference of the Inquiry may prevent the Inquiry from making any finding as to whether such assault caused Brian’s death. This would clearly be a most unsatisfactory outcome for the public interest, let alone the family of the late Brian Rossiter who have fought so hard for 3 years to have the case investigated.

Many people ask “what then?” and the answer is less than certain. Should the Inquiry find itself constrained from dealing with that central question, the Minister for Justice who has repeatedly given assurances that these questions will be dealt with by the Inquiry report will be obliged to take whatever further steps are necessary to answer those questions but it be a terrible trauma for the family if that meant a further inquiry or Commission of Investigation.

At this point in the Inquiry, evidence has been heard from many of the people who had any interaction with Brian during the final days of his life and some garda and medical witnesses but the most crucial evidence is yet to be heard including those gardai who are the subject of the Inquiry and perhaps most importantly, the forensic pathologists whose role it is to determine issues such as the cause of death and the timing and mechanism of the fatal injury.

There are 3 other forums of importance ongoing. Firstly, there is a civil case that was commenced by the Rossiter family during the period that the case was being ignored by the Minister for Justice. This is a High Court civil action against the Minister and the Garda Commissioner for the wrongful killing of Brian Rossiter. This may well come on for hearing within the next 12 months. It is being continued because it offers an opportunity to answer questions of culpability that may not be dealt with by the Inquiry. Second is the Inquest which stands adjourned until the conclusion of the third forum which is a Circuit Criminal Court prosecution of a man who is charged with Assault Causing Harm on Brian Rossiter some 2 days prior to his arrest. It now seems that this will not commence until the Inquiry has been concluded. These various proceedings are unlikely to be completed until mid or late 2007.

This will undoubtedly be a long process but at its conclusion, the family hope they will know the truth of what happened to Brian. In that quest they are mindful that other families are now also suffering great stress and worry and it is their wish that no person is unfairly discredited or suffers any unwarranted loss of reputation as a consequence of their loss – a loss that can never be replaced.