Cold Case Review

anbodhran

Hello folks,

I wonder if anyone can provide info on how to get a case opened up again for review?

Basically, I know someone who died in very suspicious circumstances about 20 years ago. The whole thing was handled very badly by the local Gardai at the time who either had a lack of ability or interest in investigating the case properly. The family took the death badly and didn't have the strength to rattle more cages at the time.

New evidence has come to light which was overlooked by the investigators, and people in the area know the people who are involved.

Does anyone know what is the best way of going about this, hypothetically at least...I understand people not wanting to say anything which will put themselves at risk from a legal standpoint.

Thanks a million, any help appreciated.

[Jackass]

Go and make a statement to the Gardai along with information about whatever new evidence has come to light, be it contact details of wintness(es) or leads, and if they feel there is sufficient grounds to investigate further or interview any new witness who has come forward they will do so, but it is purely based on what actual evidence you can present to them that was not explored before.

Any "unresolved" case is always open to new evidence that can be brought to light to the Gardai.

If there was never an investigation in the first place, enough real evidence of a crime being committed may cause the opening of one, regardless of how old the case is.

The first step is going to the Gardai though.

anbodhran

The initial steps were made locally. A superintendant met with representatives of the family, mostly as a courtesy. They entered the meeting expecting that the case was looked at in a professional manner and nothing came to light.

However they left the meeting shocked by how badly the investigation was carried out, and the general lack of interest of the superintendant, who possibly didn't want to rattle any cages of past colleagues.

Following this the best option would be to have a fresh pair of eyes look at the case, and not working in the locality.

[Jackass]

If you do not want local Gardai to investigate it, and if by the sounds of it, it's to do with a member of the Gardai, then contact the Garda Ombudsman, who will be able to launch an internal investigation (carried out by HQ, not local Gardai) or if you are just disatisfied with the willingness of the superintendant to investigage, you can refer it to the Garda Commissioner, who oversees the entire Gardai and if he feels it warrants investigation he can refer it on to an internal affairs / seperate investigation to be conducted, external from local authority.

You can also ask for the assistance of local TD's to contact the Gardai about what is being done about it, and you can contact the incumbant minister for justice to contact the gardai also to request an investigation being launched, if this is a case that needs to be investigated but there are local blockages, as happened in Donegal a few years ago..

As this was not investigated at a local level, you will need to give an extremely detailed account of what happened, what evidence has come to light and why you feel it is required to be reffered beyond your local Garda station and why you feel this case can not be dealt with on a local level.

Commissioner Martin Callinan,
Garda Headquarters,
Phoenix Park,
Dublin 15.

AND

Garda Ombudsman
150 Abbey Street Upper,
Dublin 1.
info@gsoc.ie
LoCall: 1890 600 800, Phone: 01 871 67 27, Fax: 01 814 70 23
http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/

anbodhran

Thanks. Unfortunately the Ombudsman doesn't look at cases which have occured more than 6 months ago. The Commissioner is a possibility, wouldn't be massively optimistic in getting much response though.

Whats most disturbing is the general lack of apathy that the local team showed at the time. Without wanting to go into too much detail it appears that they had plenty of evidence at the time, but didn't record lots of it. Chief suspects had powerful influence in the area and weren't questioned properly etc.

The general theme was appears to be that they didn't want to have the case labelled as a murder or manslaughter, and bad news stories on them and the area.

Being realistic, its difficult to see Gardai jumping to spend tight resources on a case that could cause them embarassment.

Kristopherus

If you get nowhere with the suggestions from the previous posters, you could consider approaching investigative reporters. I'm thinking about thr former rte reporter Gerry O'Callaghan and there's currently a journo in RTE whose name I cannot recall, but he wrote a tome in recent years about the missing cases in the Kildare/ Wicklow area.

anbodhran

The papers option is basically last resort. I believe this option has been looked into and some household names have been approached.

Obviously this option could be damaging for the family. Personally I'd prefer if the proper avenues were followed before anyone went that route.

You'd like to think if anything happened to you tonight that your death would be investigated properly. It should be a basic human right.

coylemj

anbodhran wrote: »

The initial steps were made locally. A superintendant met with representatives of the family, mostly as a courtesy. They entered the meeting expecting that the case was looked at in a professional manner and nothing came to light.

Can you clarify this sentence please, when you say 'initially' are you referring to representations the family made 20 years ago i.e. soon after the death or recently?

anbodhran wrote: »

However they left the meeting shocked by how badly the investigation was carried out, and the general lack of interest of the superintendant, who possibly didn't want to rattle any cages of past colleagues.

How did they come to the conclusion that the investigation was caried out 'badly'? Surely if the Superintendent 'didn't want to rattle cages' he wouldn't have given any information which disclosed that the original investigation was conducted badly?

I find it strange that a Superintendent today would care much about rattling cages, surely the Gardai who were there originally are now all retired or have moved on to other stations - or did one of them become Commissioner in the meantime?

anbodhran wrote: »

Following this the best option would be to have a fresh pair of eyes look at the case, and not working in the locality.

I agree with this attitude, there was a murder case in Westmeath recently which was reopened after many years, perhaps you could explore if there is a unit in the Gardai to pursue cold cases like yours?