‘My wife sobs in her sleep over our son — we have too many unanswered questions’

Darragh Sheehan, from Doneraile, Co Cork, died after being restrained during a row outside the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney. The men were arrested in December of that year, but were later released without charge.

The DPP’s office said its lawyers concluded the evidence “was not strong enough to prosecute any of the suspects for a criminal offence”.

Darragh’s father, Tom, said the decision has caused him and his wife Hannah “further anguish”.

“When I wake during the night and hear my wife crying in her sleep, I know why she cries — for the loss of seeing her son walk in the door randomly and smile at him perusing the irrelevance of an ESB bill or the Cork hurlers. That is no more,” he said.

In justifying its decision not to prosecute, the DPP said its job was to “decide, based on the available evidence, whether there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction for a criminal offence”.

“This decision from the DPP tells us, his family, that nobody needs to explain their actions. I believe Darragh could have been saved if people had acted differently under pressure,” Mr Sheehan said.

“Why, as the DPP summarises, was there a delay from when gardaí were called and arrived to when the ambulance was requested by the gardaí? If the hotel had requested assistance from the services, Darragh might have survived.”

​In a letter to Mr Sheehan, a senior prosecutor said gardaí had responded to a report of a man “causing a disturbance” at the hotel “having been removed by security staff”.

It stated that on arrival at the scene, gardaí found Darragh lying face down on the ground and unresponsive. The officers requested an ambulance and performed resuscitation, but he did not respond and was pronounced dead at 12.16am.

“A post-mortem was conducted on August 30, 2020, which determined that the cause of death was a combination of factors which included alcohol intoxication, underlying heart disease, a raised body mass index and lying in a face-down position,” the letter said. “Gardaí spoke to a number of witnesses, and CCTV footage of the incident was obtained as well as mobile phone footage.”

According to the DPP, following an “altercation”, Darragh was escorted from the hotel by hotel security staff.

They said witnesses confirmed Darragh “was behaving in an extremely aggressive and threatening manner towards the hotel security staff”.

“Witnesses also confirmed that Darragh was restrained and held face down on the ground by hotel security staff. CCTV footage supports the accounts of the witnesses.”

The letter said DPP lawyers considered whether there was enough evidence to prosecute for a criminal offence, including assault causing harm contrary to section three of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 and manslaughter by gross negligence contrary to common law.

“After a careful assessment of the evidence, our lawyers concluded that the evidence was not strong enough to prosecute any of the suspects for a criminal offence in connection with your son’s death. For this reason, they decided not to prosecute,” it read. “Among the factors considered by our lawyers was the extent of the medical evidence to prove that the actions of the suspects caused Darragh’s death.”

Mr Sheehan has asked the DPP to “reconsider the initial direction and allow us the opportunity to at least seek justice for our son”.

“He did not die as a result of BMI or blood alcohol, but because he had been restrained face down on the concrete until he stopped breathing,” he said. “All we want is an open forum to discuss beyond a reasonable doubt what an adjudicator considers the cause of death. To rely on a post-mortem report in the interest of beyond reasonable doubt is not right.”

Mr Sheehan rejected the suggestion his son had an underlying heart disease.

“We, the family, completely refute this listing on the post-mortem and had never any inclination after 26 years that this was a condition,” he said.

Mr Sheehan described the decision not to prosecute the five men as “wrong” and said it could “undermine the confidence of the community and our family in the criminal justice system of Ireland”.​

“This is a tenet of the code of ethics when administering these duties. If the admissible, relevant, credible and reliable evidence above is considered, it doesn’t seem apparent that objectively has been applied,” he added. “I cannot think of a plausible rationale when considering the above details how the evidence in the file is not sufficiently strong to support the public interest to justify at least an open-forum trial.”

​Mr Sheehan said losing his “gentle giant” never gets easier, but he is determined to get justice for his son.

“Some are blessed in the dead of night to hear a baby cry from its cot and smile as they move the child and sing a lullaby, I just lay there and think of Darragh as Hannah sobs while sound asleep. It is hell on earth,” said.

“We will never have him walk through the front door again, but we want this reviewed. There are too many unanswered questions and facts.”

When contacted, the DPP said it “does not comment on individual cases”.​