Methadone dose proved fatal to key suspect
Saturday November 07 2009
The main suspect in the shooting dead of Donna Cleary who died of meth- adone poisoning after being questioned in a garda station was not on a methadone treatment programme, an inquest has heard.
Dwayne Foster (24) of Woodbank Avenue, Finglas, Dublin, was discovered unresponsive in Coolock garda station in the early hours of March 7, 2006, and was taken to Beaumont Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A post-mortem by the deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis found that Mr Foster died from methadone intoxication.
Mr Foster was being questioned at the time in relation to the shooting of a young mother of one, Donna Cleary, who was shot dead at a party in Coolock in the early hours of March 5, 2006.
Mr Foster had been given methadone on two occasions on March 6, 2006, shortly after 11am and again between 8pm and 9pm by Dr Peadar Kirk, who saw him in Coolock garda station.
Dr Kirk, who described Mr Foster as "a credible witness", prescribed the medication after Mr Foster told him that he was a drug addict, was on a methadone treatment programme at the Ballymun Clinic and was on 60 mils of methadone per day.
Chairperson of the Metha- done Protocol Prescribing Implementation Committee, Dr Joe Barry told an inquest at Dublin City Coroner's Court yesterday that there is no record of Mr Foster ever having been on the central treatment list.
"If somebody who is not used to methadone gets methadone, it can be dangerous," said Dr Barry.
Dr Kirk administered just under half the amount Mr Foster requested on both occasions following examinations.
The doctor had tried to make contact with the Ballymun clinic to verify that Mr Foster was on the methadone programme, but was unsuccessful.
Confirm
He did not call the Drug Treatment Centre Board to confirm that Mr Foster was on the central treatment list.
"I was happy to administer the amount of methadone I did . . . I made an attempt to confirm the account he gave me with the drug treatment clinic," he told the inquest.
GP Dr Aidan Morris, who was Mr Foster's GP since his diagnosis with nasal and throat cancer in 1999, from which he got the all-clear in 2000, told the inquest he never prescribed methadone to Mr Foster. Mr Foster had informed him he had used cocaine, he told the inquest.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell adjourned the inquest to February 2010 when a week has been set aside for the hearing.
- Georgina O'Halloran
Irish Independent
