Drugs played ‘major role’ in man’s death after Garda raid

By Eoin English

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Illegal drugs played a major role in the death of a man who became ill while being restrained by garda during a drugs raid almost five years ago, an inquest heard yesterday.

Assistant state pathologist Dr Margot Bolster told Cork City Coroners Court her postmortem on David OMahony, 22, showed he had taken cocaine, heroin, alcohol and probably cannabis in the hours before his death.

The cause of death had been cocaine, alcohol and lignocaine toxicity during restraint, she said.

She described injuries found on Mr OMahonys body, including bruises on his left wrist consistent with the placement of handcuffs, as "minor".

"They were not in my opinion sufficient to account for death," she said.

Mr OMahony, of 8McSwiney Villas, Gurranabraher, Cork, became agitated while garda were searching the house on Nov 14, 2007. He was restrained and handcuffed with his hands behind his back before he suffered a seizure. He was pronounced dead at Cork University Hospital.

The Garda Siochna Ombudsman Commission investigated the death and sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who directed that no garda should face charges.

Dr Bolster yesterday said tests conducted by the State laboratory on blood samples taken from Mr OMahony found a lethal dose of lignocaine, a bulking agent in cocaine which can be fatal on its own. But she said his collapse and seizure was most likely cocaine-induced. She described Mr OMahonys case as complex and said death followed a complex inter-play of several factors, including the effects of the drug cocktail on his body which would have been aggravated by the physical stress brought on by the restraint.

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Drugs played ‘major role’ in man’s death after Garda raid