Report finds ‘errors of judgement’ by Gardai and Tuohey family

A judge's 200-page report into the investigation which followed the death of 23-year-old Shane Tuohey in Offaly has concluded that there were a number of "errors of judgement" on the part of both the Gardai and Mr Tuohey's family in the aftermath of his disappearance in 2002.

However, the report stated that there was no evidence to support the Tuohey family's contention that foul play had been a factor in his death.

"The Tuohey family have at all times assumed that there was evidence of foul play directed against the late Shane Tuohey that has yet to be uncovered," the report stated.

"Regrettably there is no substance for such an assumption. Whatever evidence that existed has long since been collected, processed and ultimately reported upon by An Garda Siochana."

The report of the Section 42 inquiry into the Shane Tuohey case has been years in the making, and was published by the Department of Justice on Friday last.

The inquiry was set up by then-Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald in 2017, and was initially led by retired district court judge Donagh McDonagh, before then being completed by another retired district judge, Michael Coghlan.

Shane Tuohey, from Derrycooley, Rahan, went missing in the early hours of February 2, 2002, having been out socialising that night in Clara. His body was discovered by his brother, Edwin, in the River Brosna a week later.

Gardai concluded that had taken his own life, and State Pathologist Dr John Harbison recorded drowning as the cause of death, but the deceased's family believed he was assaulted on the night he went missing.

As part of the Section 42 Inquiry, fifty people were interviewed and a total of 33 "potentially relevant" allegations or criticisms raised by the Tuohey family were examined.

It was concluded that nine of these issues "were found to have some basis", but that "the vast majority were found to be of little merit and in some instances without any foundation".

The report found that the six-day search, after Shane Tuohey was reported missing, had been "uncoordinated and at times incoherent".

It involved "numerous errors of judgement on the part of An Garda Siochana," and said civilians and relatives of Mr Tuohey should not have been part of the search, as it had not been established whether or not foul play had contributed to his disappearance.

The inquiry was satisfied "on the balance of probabilities" that an unnamed Garda made comments on February 5, 2002, suggesting that the disappearance of Shane Tuohey had been a suicide.

"At a time when the whereabouts of Shane Tuohey remained unknown, such comments were at best gratuitous," the report stated.

"At worst they were deeply offensive and may very well have sparked the vitriolic response of Tuohey family members towards the Garda search and also to the initial Garda investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Shane Tuohey."

Among the other complaints upheld by the inquiry was that the location on the River Brosna where Mr Tuohey's remains had been recovered had not been preserved as a crime scene.

An initial Garda investigation in 2002 found no evidence that Shane Tuohey had been assaulted, and in late 2005 Gardai were instructed to undertake a full review or re-investigation, following correspondence between the Tuohey family, the Garda Commissioner,and the then-Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

The review of the investigation, which was completed in 2006, accepted that some aspects of the search operation could have been handled better, but reiterated the earlier conclusions of the 2002 probe into the 23-year-old's death.

The Section 42 inquiry found that there had been a "lack of discretion" on the part of some in An Garda Siochana who were involved in the case, and that they had made references to suicide which were "at best unprofessional" and were taken by the Tuohey family to be "gratuitously offensive".

After the remains of the deceased were recovered, the Tuohey family had "effectively carried out their independent investigation" into the matter, which resulted in witnesses "being alienated", according to the inquiry.

"An Garda Siochána were obliged on occasion to tell members of the family to step back and allow (the Gardai) to get on with their own investigative work," stated the report.

"The independent activity of Tuohey family members had the effect of tainting much of the witness evidence that they had collected, sometimes by questionable means."

The report stated that Shane Tuohey's father, Eamon, held "what can only be described as a blinkered view of what had happened" to his son.

"He totally ruled out the possibility of suicide. But he failed to present any other form of credible scenario in the face of the evidence gathered by An Garda Siochána as to how his son's death could have actually occurred," the report read.

It went on to say that the available CCTV footage from the night in question, from the Mill House pub and late night venue, and from the window above the Post Office in Clara, was "of no evidential value whatsoever" in the case.

The Tuoheys were unsatisfied with the conclusions of State Pathologist Dr John Harbison, who carried out the post-mortem, and the family engaged the services of two American pathologists, whose names were redacted in the report.

The inquiry wrote to both US pathologists, receiving no reply from one, while the other stated that he could not assist in the matter.

The inquiry concluded that Dr Harbison's report and determination of drowning as to the cause of death was "both logical, credible and completely consistent with the evidence obtained as a result of his post mortem examination"

In contrast, it found that the reports submitted by both American pathologists were "vague, incomplete and speculative in nature... the theories submitted within these reports were not supported by actual pathological evidence sufficient to contradict the findings of Professor Harbison".

In its conclusion, the inquiry said it was satisfied that, notwithstanding the aforementioned criticisms of the Garda's handling of the case, by 2006 "a thorough and far-reaching investigation had been carried out" into the death of Shane Tuohey, and this had been "highly professional and comprehensive" in nature.

"Every complaint and/or allegation made by the Tuohey family was investigated and addressed with over 155 persons interviewed, some on multiple occasions," it said.

"The report (in 2006) was exceptionally detailed and found, inter alia, that there was no evidence of foul play in the death of Shane Tuohey.

"Whilst a copy of the report was not furnished to the Tuohey family, they were nevertheless brought through the findings... The family have chosen not to accept those findings."

Judge Coghlan also commented that the "assault and conspiracy theories that surfaced at the time of Shane Tuohey's disappearance" were "either non-specific, conjectural, subsequently contradicted or based on second hand information from dubious sources".

He added that "many of those who contributed to these theories had either consumed alcohol during the particular time in question or were unreliable for other reasons".