John Kelly on his confirmation day

EJ writes:

Information has come to light in the case of Dublin man John Kelly who lost his life aged 24 at Britain Quay , Dublin Docklands in October 2008.

John’s family are appealing to an anonymous person who sent letters about his case to Tallaght Garda station in 2014, to please contact Gardaí in Pearse Street Garda Station or the family.

The family say they have been informed by Gardaí, of two anonymous letters that were sent to Tallaght Garda station in 2014 on separate occasions containing vital new information about his case.

John’s sister Emma Kelly said:

“They are believed to be written by the same person because they have the same message written in both. We don’t want to scare them, but we really want them to come forward again, if not to the Gardaí then to us. This person was brave enough to send two letters, obviously they felt that the first letter wasn’t taken seriously so then sent in another letter. We’re asking this person to please come forward and help us get some closure as to what happened to John on the night he died. “

The efforts to get a full investigation in John Kelly’s death has seen the family face two inquiries, a case with GSOC and a paper review with the Justice Review Panel.

They have taken on an intense campaign including media interviews in Australia and in Ireland, social media campaigns and an email campaign and have gotten the issue raised in the Dail on numerous occasions.

John’s sister Amanda Kelly said:

“We haven’t heard anything from the Minister. We emailed the minister on the 24th of September to inform her that new information has come to light that is really likely to help us find out what happened to John. We got an email acknowledging that she had gotten the email but that’s about it.”

The official cause of death, deemed “misadventure” is still disputed by John’s family and they hope the new information will help them show Gardaí that the case deserves more attention.

In October 2008,  John got the train from Athy Co. Kildare to Dublin. He was from Tallaght but he had finished a short spell in Cuin Mhuire in Athy for a mild alcohol problem and had picked up his last social welfare cheque that day.

He was starting a new job with his brother in law the next day. On the train he used a stranger’s mobile phone because his battery had died. He called his brother in law twice, and two more calls to an unknown number. After John got off the train he made his way down to Britain Quay.

At 12:28 AM a call is logged into a Garda station that there was someone screaming and shouting at the canal near an apartment building at Britain Quay. Several calls were logged that night, other caller’s say there is someone screaming and shouting from the water opposite the Portview apartments.

When Gardaí arrived at the scene John was still alive. It is reported by the Gardaí that they threw John a rope and he couldn’t catch it. It was just after this that john went under the water and did not resurface.  Amanda recalled: “Five Gardai were there, and none of them got into the water. They said it wouldn’t have been safe.”

Even though the fire brigade and water rescue arrived on the scene that night, they could not find John’s body. John’s body was not recovered until the next day.

John’s money, jewelry, phone, and a pair of new runners he had just bought that day were all missing.

Emma and Amanda say their family was told there were no marks on John’s body but when their mother asked to see John in the funeral home, she and other people witnessed bruising on his face and they report that there was dried blood in his ears. John’s fists were clenched and his knuckles were scraped and torn. This is not stated in the post mortem, but the post mortem goes one to say there was extensive marks to John’s neck and swelling to the brain.

The family was told the clothes John was wearing that night had to be destroyed for health and safety reasons because they were badly soiled with blood.

John’s phone was answered in the days after his death by a person who claimed to have gotten it in Tallaght. The phone has never been tracked down. After his death when the Kelly’s say they felt forced to take the lead in investigating what happened, his sisters had the opportunity to talk to witnesses from the Portview apartments where the 999 calls came from that night, who had statements taken by Gardaí.

One witness in particular claims she was told by Gardaí that it was likely a case of suicide. The witness went on to repeat the claim on RTE’s Primetime also stating that John’s cries were for help and were not the cries of a suicidal man. Another witness confirmed on the show that he too hear Johns calls.

Emma and Amanda say they have sent information to the Gardaí on numerous occasions as did their private investigator but still it seemed a murder investigation would not be considered by Gardai.

The sisters say

“We are worn out but we aren’t giving up. We have gone through GSOC in 2009 where we laid out all of our issues in a 13 page statement and it came to nothing. We had to hire a private investigator Mr William Flynn. Now we are waiting for an outcome from the paper review and we don’t have much faith in that either. They are only looking at paper work, it’s a paper review of what they already have on file and the Gardaí never did a full investigation so there isn’t much there to look at. And they don’t have access to GSOC files so they won’t even get to include our 13 page statement from 2009. Not once did anyone from the Panel review contact us to ask for information, in a 2 page document we briefly outlined the events as to what happened to John the night he died and a little bit about the events after, there is not enough to investigate in what was emailed to them. Why hasn’t the panel review contacted us for more information? Have they included the anonymous letters? How can they come to a conclusion on such serious matters without the relevant information?

“All we want is Justice for John and closure for our family. Please we’re begging for anyone with information to please come forward. We can be contacted through our website  or contact Pearse street station.”

A Garda spokesperson said:

“Dr Brian Farrell the Dublin City Coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure at Dublin City Coroners Court, on 26th November 2009.  If anyone has further information regarding this case they should contact the Gardaí at Pearse Street Garda Station.”

Previously: Justice Denied