Major police failings in handling of domestic violence victim

(A slightly edited version of this piece was published in Village, October 2017)

An inquest into the death of an Omagh woman who was a domestic violence victim heard evidence of major failings in PSNI handling of events, and how the the police subsequently changed procedures in dealing with persons who reported being assaulted. Thirty-six year old Mairéad McCallion died in hospital on February 24th 2014, the day after telling police her partner Noel Knox grabbed her by the hair and knocked her head against a wall before throwing her out of the house.

Knox then called police because Mairéad and another man were outside. It was a very cold day, and she was wearing neither shoes nor coat – and wanted Knox to give them to her.

When police arrived, Mairéad reported the assault. Police saw clumps of hair had been torn from her head. They arrested Knox, and brought her to the custody suite at police station for examination.

A senior police officer told the inquest procedures had now changed. Chief Superintendent Karen Baxter said that all victims should now be taken to an accident and emergency unit. “The custody suite is not a place of safety – it is a place of detention,” she said.

Constable Catherine Kilkie, to whom Mairéad reported the assault, said she did not tell the Forensic Medical Officer (police doctor) who examined Mairéad about the blow to the head, or that Mairéad said “her head was a bit sore.” Kilkie told the inquest she did not pass this on as “the doctor usually takes an account from the victims themselves.”

There was conflicting evidence as to whether Dr Paul Alleyway, who examined her in the police station, asked her had she sustained a head injury.

Alleyway said “on direct questioning, she denied having a head injury.” Civilian Custody Officer Linda Carson was present during the examination said “I just can't recall” this question being asked. In his notes, Alleyway recorded having asked the question. These notes were completed on the following day.

After the examination, the Custody Sergeant thought it necessary to bring in a Domestic Violence Officer to deal with Mairéad. However, it was a Sunday, none was on duty, and he was denied authorisation to bring one in on overtime.

There was conflicting evidence from two police officers about Mairéad's condition on the afternoon of the alleged assault. Constable Gareth McCrystal said Mairéad's face was “sloped like she had a stroke” when he first saw her outside the house. When he later returned to Omagh Police Station after taking Knox to Omagh police station, he was “concerned she had changed so much from what I'd see three hours or so previously” but not enough to call an ambulance. She was in the reception area and slumped.

Kilkie told the inquest she believed Mairéad had deteriorated because she hadn't taken her medication, and her difficulties in walking were due to wearing heels.

In mid-afternoon McCrystal and Kilkie drover her away from the police station in a police car. They were taking her to a friend's house. She only had the clothes she stood in, and none of the medication she needed. Kilkie gave evidence of only ringing the friend when they were on the way. The friend could not keep Mairéad.

During the journey, McCrystal said Mairéad was “not speaking but making noises in the back of the car.” When they reached the friend's house, Kilkie went inside. Mairéad began making retching noises. McCrystal asked her “if she could, could she please be sick outside the car.” By this stage, she was not speaking. He rang Kilkie, who contacted paramedics.

Paramedics treated her on the scene, then took her to the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, where she died of a catastrophic brain injury. This injury was not survivable.

Mairéad did not fit the stereotype of a domestic violence victim. She had been a straight-A student at her grammar school, then went to university in Scotland.

There, she suffered mental health difficulties and had to leave. Returning to Omagh she began training as an accountant. Then, in August 1998 she arranged to meet her friend Julia Hughes in the town centre one Saturday afternoon. The Omagh Bomb exploded that afternoon: Julia was killed. That was another blow to Mairéad's health.

However, she continueed to work. She moved to Coleraine and bought her own place. Unfortunately, her depression and drinking worsened. Her mother died, and shortly after she moved back to Omagh.

Mairéad was unemployed. She drifted into a circle of alcoholics who gravitated round drinking houses in a couple of housing estates. She tried to fight her demons, and enjoyed periods of sobriety. She also formed a relationship with Knox, an unemployed alcoholic about a dozen years older than her. It was a controlling relationship. They lived together in Knox's brother's house, but she did not have a key.

Knox has never been convicted of assaulting Mairéad. He was charged with her murder, though the charges were subsequently withdrawn.

Evidence was given that the screensaver on his phone was a picture of her with a broken nose and two black eyes: and that, when he rang her, this picture came up on her phone.

Police logged five complaints from Mairéad that Knox had assaulted her, though all were withdrawn. She obtained a barring order against him on one occasion. Under cross-examination during the inquest, Knox accepted physically putting her out of the house the day before she died. He admitted she fell in the front garden and may have hit her head on the grass, or on a metal manhole cover.

That day, in the police station, she spoke to Linda Carson about being a domestic violence victim. Mairéad said “she was going to do something about it this time.”

Her sister Josie and half-brother Marcus both told the inquest of seeing bruises on her. Josie said that once “it was obvious she had been beaten up, there were bruises on her.” Marcus saw he with a black eye. According to Alloway, her injuries were consistent with repeated domestic assault.

The last seven years of her life had been difficult for Mairéad, as she struggled with mental illness, alcoholism, and a troubled relationship. Even at the end, she showed positive qualities. Jonathan Cunningham was one of the police who spoke to her the day before she died. He remembered: “She was a very nice wee lady.” Linda Carson chatted to her also. “She was a very easy person to speak to,” Carson said. “She seemed to be an intelligent and articulate lady.”