Terence Wheelock


Terence Wheelock, a 20-year-old young man from Summerhill in the North Inner City of Dublin, died on 16 September 2005, from alleged injuries received in Garda custody. Terence was arrested with three others on suspicion of stealing a car and taken to Store St Garda station. Two hours later he was found unconscious in his cell. On 13 May 2007, a jury at the coroner's court returned a verdict of death by suicide.

Circumstances leading up to his death

Garda Tadhg O’Leary, from Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, said Gardaí received a phone call from a woman on that day to report a car being brought into a back yard at Sean O’Casey Avenue and being covered with a sheet.
Garda O’Leary had a check run on the black Toyota Yaris, and the owner in Donnybrook confirmed it had been stolen. He later spotted four young men in the car.
“Terrence Wheelock, who was known to me, jumped from the passenger seat,” he said. “All four youths ran from the car into the back door of the house.”
Gardaí confirmed all four were surrounded in the square at the front of the house by officers and gave themselves up shortly after midday. The inquest heard Wheelock and another man were brought to Store Street Garda station. At that point, Garda O’Leary said he discovered two bench warrants were in existence for Wheelock and he would have to be held to appear before the District Court. “At the time of the arrest of the youths they were caught red-handed”, he said.
Terence Wheelock died in hospital on 16 December 2005 after he was found unconscious in a cell in Store Street Garda Station two weeks earlier.
An inquiry by the Garda Ombudsman into Wheelock's death found he was not mistreated in any way in Store Street Garda Station.
The Ombudsman's Report also found that an allegation that he was sexually assaulted was wholly without foundation and that there was insufficient evidence to support an allegation of assault.
While no individual garda was found to be culpable in relation to Wheelock's death, the report identified a number of system failures including the failure to remove the cord from his tracksuit and to properly record details in custody.

Death

Garda View

The Garda Síochána stated that Terence committed suicide while in his cell, hanging himself with a ligature which "was secured to a fixture which is countersunk into the wall". Kieran Bisset, a member of Dublin Fire Brigade who provide ambulance cover in the Dublin area, said a number of Gardaí were performing CPR on the unconscious man when the Fire Brigade were called after 2.30pm.
“There was an obvious ligature mark around the front of his neck,” he said, adding it was deep and previous experience would indicate it was from a cord or a shoelace.
The Gardaí stated that on observing Terrence in the cell they took him into the open cell area where CPR was performed

Family View

Wheelock's family contested the idea that Terence had hanged himself. According to his brother Larry, "Terence was a healthy, happy-go-lucky young man with no history of self-harm and for him to have committed suicide would have been entirely out of character." His family believe that Wheelock died as a result of injuries received from the gardaí while in custody.
According to Larry Wheelock, Terrances' brother, Terrence was in fact a victim of police brutality and high-ranking members of the force have actively attempted to cover up what really happened.

Inconsistencies and Matters Arising

According to the family, they were also subject to intimidation and even attacks from the Gardaí because of their campaign for an investigation.
There were protests in favour of an independent inquiry on the death of Terence Wheelock. They took place in many locations including Store Street Garda Station, Dáil Éireann, The Minister for Justice's office and Bertie Ahern's constituency office.

Investigation