THE INQUEST into the death of a father-of-two in Garda custody has been adjourned after apparently conflicting evidence from gardaí.
Mark Anthony Reidy (32) from Keeper Road, Drimnagh, was found unresponsive at Terenure Garda station on December 30th, 2007.
A postmortem found Mr Reidy died of methadone and alcohol intoxication. Coronary artery disease was a contributing factor.
Mark Reidy’s partner and the mother of his two children, Elaine White, yesterday told Dublin City Coroner’s Court that Mr Reidy seemed unusually calm when arrested as he had resisted arrest on previous occasions.
Ms White said she felt he may have taken something and went to check if the methadone tablets he kept in her top drawer were still there, but she noticed they were gone.
She then rang Terenure Garda station to tell them she suspected he may have taken an overdose. She said she rang them nine times during the night but felt they were not listening to her so she made contact with Sgt Adrian Whitelaw of Kevin Street Garda station who she had dealt with previously.
Sgt Caroline Maloney said gardaí at the Terenure station did not suspect Mr Reidy had taken an overdose as he was alert and talkative. She told the inquest she had checked on Mr Reidy every 15 minutes throughout the night.
After hearing apparently conflicting evidence from gardaí about whether they were informed about a suspected overdose, City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell adjourned the proceedings until October 26th.