An investigation into claims that police officers injured a man who suffered serious head wounds during rioting has found no evidence to back the allegations, the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman reported yesterday.
The report said the fact that no members of the public who were in east Belfast's Short Strand area, during the incident in May this year, had come forward as witnesses had hampered the investigation. It concluded the victim, Mr Paud Devenny, chairman of Sinn Féin in Belfast, could have been hit by one of the missiles being thrown at police at the time of the riot.
The Ombudsman's office launched the investigation at the request of the PSNI following allegations that the man may have been beaten by police or hit by a plastic bullet fired by the security forces. The Ombudsman's executive director, Mr Dave Wood, said an investigation had been carried out but "no evidence was available to show that a single officer had in any way been responsible for the injuries".
He said the victim did not know how he was injured and had not made a statement to the Ombudsman saying he thought police were responsible. "Video evidence shows us that there were a lot of people near the man just after he was injured, but either those people did not see what happened or chose not to tell us what they saw," said Mr Wood.
Investigators studied both police and amateur video footage made available, and while both confirmed plastic bullets had not been fired at the time in question, neither provided evidence of how the man was injured.
The amateur video film showed the man attempting to defuse a confrontation between police and public, said the report. "He was shown acting as a peacemaker, trying to calm a tense situation," said Mr Wood. The film showed the man in front of a police line as a barrage of missiles was being thrown over his head at officers. "The man did not have the protection of the shields the police officers had, and there is the possibility he was hit by one of these missiles," he added. He said that there was no video evidence which showed how the man got his injuries. Similarly, Police Ombudsman staff did not find anyone who saw what happened.
Senior staff, including Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, attended a meeting in Short Strand in the hope that anyone with information would come forward. Two hundred and fifty letters were delivered to householders in the area, but no one, including the person who made the original phone call to the Ambulance Service, came forward to say what happened. The report has been sent to the Northern Secretary Dr Reid.
Sinn Féin last night criticised the findings, claiming that the man was injured by a police plastic bullet. "If the Ombudsman is saying that she cannot find evidence to support this then she must tell us exactly how she believes Paud Devenny received such serious life-threatening injuries, when the medical evidence is consistent with baton blows to the head". A spokesman for the Ombudsman said the office had not been given access to medical reports despite repeated requests.