REASONABLE FORCE was used by gardaí in the arrest of Dwayne Foster, who was found unresponsive in a Dublin Garda station where he was being questioned about a fatal shooting, a detective sergeant has told the resumed inquest into his death.
Foster (24), Woodbank Avenue, Finglas, Dublin, was discovered unresponsive in Coolock Garda station on March 7th, 2006. He was taken to Beaumont Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He was being questioned in relation to the shooting of Donna Cleary (22), a mother of one, who was shot dead at a party early on March 5th, 2006.
A postmortem by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis found Foster had died from methadone intoxication. The postmortem also revealed 34 injuries on Foster’s body caused by blunt force trauma. The injuries would not have contributed to death.
An inquest into Foster’s death, which resumed at Dublin City Coroner’s Court yesterday, heard he may have sustained injuries while he was being subdued by gardaí in the course of his arrest.
Det Sgt Cormac Brennan, who was involved in Foster’s arrest at a house in the Curragh, Co Kildare, on March 5th, said Foster resisted arrest, adding that the force used by gardaí was proportionate to overcome the resistance offered by Foster to being restrained.
“It was reasonable,” said Det Sgt Brennan. “He was struggling against being restrained. He did not want to be restrained. He did not want to be handcuffed.”
The detective sergeant, who held Foster on the floor, was assisted by two other gardaí in restraining him. Solicitor for the Foster family Michael Finucane accepted that not all of the injuries were caused during the arrest. The inquest continues today.