Doctor says Carthy not suicidal

Barr Tribunal: The psychiatrist treating the late John Carthy has told the Barr tribunal that it would be "unfair to John and to his memory" to suggest he intended to be shot when he emerged from his house at the end of a 25-hour siege.

Dr David Shanley has rejected the idea that Mr Carthy was attempting to commit "suicide by cop", a theory put forward by counsel for the gardaí, Mr John Rogers, as a possible explanation for Mr Carthy's actions on leaving his house.

Dr Shanley said he never found Mr Carthy to be suicidal in any of his dealings with him. "There is no reason to think he emerged from his house with the expectation of being shot by the gardaí, in my view."

To suggest so was to stray into the realms of "a high degree of speculation", he said, and Mr Carthy would have had ample opportunities to take his own life, if he had a mind to do so.

He did not believe there were any recorded incidents of "suicide by cop" in this country. He was aware of it as a phenomenon identified in the US.

Dr Shanley, who was treating Mr Carthy for bipolar or manic depression up to 10 months before the 27-year-old's death, was recalled to the tribunal yesterday to consider the theory of "suicide by cop" and a number of other matters which arose during tribunal hearings before the summer recess.

Dr Shanley had given evidence to the tribunal at the beginning of April. He was also asked yesterday, to consider whether gardaí were right to use cigarettes as a bargaining tool with Mr Carthy, who was known to be a heavy smoker.

Dr Shanley said the failure to give Mr Carthy the cigarettes he had requested was likely to mitigate against the "rapport" the negotiator was attempting to develop.

He added that cigarettes might have been useful in reducing Mr Carthy's levels of agitation and that nicotine withdrawal was likely to aggravate his "already difficult mental state".

Earlier yesterday, a friend of Mr Carthy, Mr Kevin Ireland, who told an RTÉ radio reporter he had received a call from Mr Carthy less than an hour before his death, was accused of being an "unreliable" witness by Mr Rogers.

Mr Carthy is understood not to have made any phone calls at this time.