THE INQUEST into the death of 14-year-old schoolboy Brian Rossiter yesterday heard evidence from a friend of his who said Brian had told him he had been assaulted by gardaí.
The inquest, which has been adjourned until next month, heard evidence from gardaí that he had been out of control, shouting abuse and "striking out" when he was brought to the Garda station.
Recalling the night before Brian was found unconscious in a cell at Clonmel Garda station, the witness Anthony O'Sullivan told Cork City Coroner's Court how he was arrested along with Brian after 9pm on September 10th, 2002.
He was put in cell 4 at the station where he heard Brian being brought in and put in cell 3.
"You would have to go to the door to shout. I just had a few words. I told him that they [ the gardaí] were after beating me and he said they were after beating him," said Mr O'Sullivan, adding that he had heard Brian shouting and roaring when he was being brought in.
Mr O'Sullivan told how the following morning gardaí woke him up and asked him to come with them to Rossiter's cell to try and wake his friend whom he found lying on the concrete bunk with his hands across his chest.
"I saw Brian facing in towards the wall, shaking, very loud breathing through his nose . . . he was on the concrete plinth and the mattress was on the floor . . . he was as white as a ghost, I called him four or five times and shook him two or three times."
Mr O'Sullivan, who said he still didn't know why the gardaí had got him to try and wake Brian, told how he was later brought into the interview room by gardaí and asked had Brian taken drugs, saying that he was in hospital and the doctors needed to know.
Mr O'Sullivan said he told them that Brian had drunk two litres of cider and when gardaí brought in his father to ask him what Brian had taken, he told them that Brian had smoked a joint but had not taken any ecstasy tablets.
Garda Ann Marie Coogan, who was the member in charge in Clonmel Garda station on the night that Brian Rossiter, Mr O'Sullivan and a third juvenile, Daniel Leahy, were arrested, told how all three were intoxicated and abusive as she was trying to process them.
Rossiter had been arrested by Garda Padraig Jennings and he was out of control when he was brought into the public office of the station at 9.41pm, shouting abuse and striking out trying to free himself and he refused to sign the custody record, she said.
"He was shouting and roaring and very unco-operative. He told me to 'f**k off, that I was a f**king pig just like the rest of them," said Garda Coogan, adding that while he had two black eyes, the bruises did not look fresh and she didn't think he needed medical attention.
Garda Coogan told how Rossiter continued to shout and roar from his cell and when she checked on him through a hatch in the cell door, he was sitting on a window ledge in his cell and when she asked him to get down, he refused and continued shouting.
Garda Gerry Canty, who took over from Garda Coogan as member in charge at 10pm, told how he checked on Rossiter at regular intervals and he continued shouting and roaring in his cell despite being asked to quieten down but he had stopped by 11.30pm.
When he checked on Brian at 11.55pm, he was asleep and he continued to check at half-hourly intervals until 5.30am and on each occasion he found him asleep, said Garda Canty, adding that he never entered the cell during the night.
Garda Elaine Corkery told how she passed cell 3 at about 5.45am and the occupant, whom she later learned was Rossiter, started shouting abuse at her, saying "You're a f**king bitch, you're nothing but a f**king bitch."
