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No details logged on Pulse system by gardaí who first responded in search for Seán O’Neill, inquest hears
No details logged on Pulse system by gardaí who first responded in search for Seán O’Neill, inquest hears Seán O'Neill's body was found a short distance from where he was last seen on camera on the grounds of Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown.
Two gardaí tasked with searching for a man shortly after he left an emergency department and ultimately died by suicide have told an inquest they did not have “any recollection” of the incident. An inquest into the death of Seán O’Neill, whose body was found on the grounds of Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown a day after he left the emergency department, also heard that no details of initial inquiries were recorded on the Garda Pulse system.
Hospital staff called for gardaí shortly after he left at about 7.05am and two officers, Michael McGloin and Andrew Reynolds, were dispatched at 7.17am to respond to the incident, according to dispatch data. We want to lend our daughter €350,000 to buy a home – what do we need to know? Both McGloin and Reynolds gave evidence during the hearing on Wednesday, though neither had “any recollection” of responding to the incident, they said.
During questioning at Dublin District Coroner’s Court by coroner Dr Myra Cullinane and the family’s barrister, Eva Gloster, neither garda could recall seeking or viewing hospital CCTV footage or searching the hospital grounds that morning. The inquest previously heard O’Neill’s body was ultimately found about a “five-minute walk” from the emergency department and a short distance from where he was last seen on CCTV.
“You say you don’t recall it, do you say that it’s not likely you just drove away and did nothing? ” the coroner asked Reynolds.
“No, that certainly wouldn’t be the case,” he replied. Both gardaí said they had responded to incidents at the hospital many times. Reynolds said he would typically “leave the grounds” of Connolly Hospital to search for someone who had left, based on prior experience. He said he had no recollection of asking in which direction O’Neill went, though he said it would have been “extremely helpful” if this information was passed on by staff.
He added that he would have passed on information to his sergeant and conducted further inquiries from Blanchardstown Garda station, though he confirmed there was no evidence of this. Reynolds also confirmed he did not log any details of their response on the Garda Pulse system. He told the coroner he would have been aware O’Neill’s body was discovered by two gardaí the following day, as he was working.
Asked by Cullinane why neither he nor McGloin were interviewed or asked to provide a statement when O’Neill’s death was initially being investigated, despite being the first gardaí to respond, he said: “I don’t know. ” The inquest also heard a security officer on duty at the hospital, Adam Wozniak, asked O’Neill to return three times after he left.
In a statement read to the court, he said O’Neill responded that he was “not coming back” and he had “had enough”. Wozniak said that, as a security guard, he was not able to detain a patient unless they were detained under the Mental Health Act.
In a separate statement provided to the court, Dr Niamh Collins, a consultant in emergency medicine at Connolly Hospital, said she did not believe there were medical or legal grounds to physically keep O’Neill at the hospital. Collins said it was “unclear” whether the Mental Health Act applied to him, saying he had long-standing drug addiction problems and had not yet had a mental health assessment by the psychiatry registrar before his “absconsion”.
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