A-Infos (en) Ireland, Anarchist journal: Workers Solidarity #99 - Something Rotten In Store Street

The September/October 2007 issue of Workers Solidarity is now online and can be 
downloaded as a PDF file. http://www.wsm.ie/attachments/sep2007/ws99.pdf ---- 
Content ---- Something Rotten in Store Street ---- Postman Pat Says 'Stuff Your 
Pay Cut' ---- Why Ireland Never Got Nuclear Power ---- Workers Occupation Pays 
Off ---- The Great Gas Robbery ---- That's Capitalism ---- Is Equal Pay 
Possible? ---- Climate Change; Delusion and Hypocrisy ---- Anarchism and the WSM 
---- Anarchists Against the Wall ---- In July the Garda Ombudsman announced that 
it will begin an inquiry into the arrest and death of Terence Wheelock following 
injuries sustained in custody at Store Street Garda station in June 2005. This 
announcement follows two years of silence, denial and cover up by the Gardai and 
the political establishment.

Terence was `discovered' in-
jured and unconscious in his
cell several hours after being
arrested.    Although Gardai
would like us to believe that his
injuries resulted from a suicide
attempt, there's a wealth of
evidence to suggest otherwise.
Garda records say he was in
fine physical condition when
brought into custody, yet pho-
tos taken at the hospital clearly
show that Terence's body was
covered in bruises and lacera-
tions. Where did these mysteri-
ous bruises come from?
Not only this, but Gardai de-
cided to stage an impromptu
renovation of the cell before
allowing anyone to access it;
blatant cover up or home im-
provement? When we add to
this the facts that a witness saw
Gardai assaulting Terence while
he was being arrested, custody
records were altered to remove
the names of the arresting
Gardai, and the Gardai refused
for over a year to release Ter-
ence's clothes to his family for
forensic investigation, it should
be very obvious that something
fishy is going on.

Faced with silence from the Gardai
and the political establishment, Ter-
ence Wheelock's family launched a
campaign for an independent inquiry
into his death. The Summerhill com-
munity, no stranger to wanton intimi-
dation and corruption from the boys
in blue, has rallied around them, and
forced this to become an issue.
Gardai responded to this community-
based campaign with their own cam-
paign, one of intimidation and har-
assment, to the extent that Terence's
parents have been forced to leave their
family home. Meanwhile, Gardai cre-
ated a token enquiry into Terence's
death. This was carried out by Garda
Oliver Hanly, who had served for over
fifteen years in Store Street. Unsur-
prisingly he found no evidence of
Garda wrongdoing.
The Wheelock family refused to rec-
ognise this self-investigation and
maintained their demand for an in-
dependent inquiry. Last year another
investigation began; it was carried out
by the Coroner's Court and concluded
in July. This investigation refused to
hear independent evidence commis-
sioned by the family, relying instead
on the evidence of State Pathologist
Marie Cassidy, who argued in favour
of her Garda chums.
This independent evidence would
have blown the Gardai and Marie
Cassidy out of the water; forensic evi-
dence from Terence's clothes points
to injuries that could not possibly be
caused by a hanging attempt, while
another report shows that photographs
of Terence's cell are inconsistent with
the Garda story and, in fact, indicate
reconstruction of evidence.
It's hard to tell whether the Ombuds-
man's inquiry will get to the bot-
tom of what happened to Terence at
Store Street, it's certainly not a full
and independent investigation. Most
likely it will only make some small
complaints, if it does find against the
Gardai it will probably only be `one
or two bad apples' who will be sent
off on early retirement and a full pen-
sion. What the investigation will not
touch is the culture of silence, corrup-
tion and cronyism that pervades the
Gardai and allows them to literally get
away with murder.
The fact that this issue has not been
forgotten is a real victory for the cam-
paign, the Wheelock family's courage
and persistence is an inspiration to all
of us. We need to continue to spread
these facts as widely as possible and
continue the demand for a full and
independent inquiry into Terence's
death. The silence of the political es-
tablishment has shown that the State
does not like to discipline its own en-
forcers; in circumstances like these
it's up to ordinary people to organise
and demand justice for themselves.
                     Ronan McHugh
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The Workers Solidarity Movement is an anarchist communist group based in
Ireland. It is involved in workplace and social struggles.
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