A man accused of murdering his wife and two children died by suicide in prison shortly before he was due to stand trial.
Sameer Syed (39), of Grosvenor Lodge, Rathmines, Dublin 6, was found dead in the Midlands Prison on June 9th, 2022, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector of Prisons, which recommends that prison officers be attentive to the presence of non-standard items in cells that could be deployed to inflict self-harm.
Mr Syed’s death occurred six days before his trial for murdering Seema Banu (37), Asfira Riza (11) and Faizan Syed (6) at their home in Llewellyn Court, Rathfarnham was due to begin. Their bodies were discovered after neighbours contacted gardaí having not seen them for several days.
An investigation into Mr Syed’s death was told he denied having any thoughts of self-harm when he met an independent psychologist on the day of his death. After the meeting, he returned to his landing, collected a meal and went to the cell he shared with another prisoner.
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The other prisoner left the cell to go to an outdoor yard while Mr Syed remained locked in. When the cellmate returned around an hour later, he found Mr Syed and alerted prison officers.
The anonymised report notes desperate attempts were made by prison staff to revive Mr Syed, with CPR performed and a defibrillator used. However, a doctor pronounced him dead less than an hour later.
In an interview with the inspector the following day, Mr Syed’s cellmate described him as “easy going” and said they had been watching TV earlier in the day. He said Mr Syed was jovial and made funny comments in relation to the programmes they watched.
In one of its three recommendations, the inspector said prison officers should be especially attentive to the presence of named non-standard items that Mr Syed used to take his own life.
“If detected, such items should be immediately confiscated and a clear written record kept of their confiscation, indicating the cell location and the name of the prisoner concerned,” the report said. It added that Syed’s father told a lawyer he did not believe his son would have harmed himself.
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