The life of a teenager who was in the care of the State when he was murdered in 2010 and his remains dumped in Co Meath had become “increasingly chaotic” in the previous 15 months, an inquest in Trim has been told. Daniel McAnaspie, originally from Finglas, had more than 20 care placements in those months.
He was stabbed to death at Tolka Valley Park, Blanchardstown in February 2010. His badly decomposed remains were found in a deep drain on a farmer’s land at Rathfeigh two months later. Seven years later, Rickard Dekker from Blanchardstown was sentenced to life in prison for his murder. A second man, Trevor Noone, also from Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The inquest conducted over four days at Trim Courthouse by Coroner for Meath Nathaniel Lacy heard that the teenager had been known to care services from birth and was in the care of the State after losing both his parents at a young age. He was in State care from aged 10. The inquest jury of three men and three women returned a verdict of unlawful killing and made a series of recommendations about the care of young people in State care.
The jury was told that while Daniel had difficulty fitting in with the rest of the family, his family had always been there for him. On the opening day of the inquest, the jury was told that Daniel had begged social workers to have him locked up. His social workers made repeated applications to the Hse care committee to seek a secure care place for him. All the applications were refused. It also heard that secure beds for children at high risk remained “in crisis” with 150 such children in inappropriate places. Young persons at risk may be detained in secure care by order of the High Court.
Daniel’s social worker Keith Homan gave evidence that he worked in the residential care home where Daniel had been living. He and a colleague dropped Daniel to meet friends in Finglas on 25th February 2010, arranging to pick him up at 9.30pm. When he failed to turn up he had phoned Daniel and made attempts to find him. Making attempts to find him he had sent text messages, the last at 12.05am and then reported him missing.
The inquest was told that Daniel’s father died when he was very young and he had experienced neglect. Although he lived with his mother this ended when he was 10 although he continued to have supervised access with her. Deborah Talbot, area manager in Dublin North city social work department said. “He was presenting as sad, anxious and worried about his mother”, she said. When she died this was “impactful on him”.
HSE APPLIED FOR SECURE CARE-NOT APPROVED
“In the last 15 months of his life he had more than 20 placements including out of hours which he could only access after midnight. “Throughout this period, the Hse applied for secure care which was not approved”. Aileen Culhane, social care worker, told the inquest she wrote a letter to the Hse appealing its decision not to seek secure care for Daniel. She had said in the letter that Daniel had come to the office “terrified” and pleading to have himself locked up. He said that he owed over €2,000 to drug dealers. “The following day “he presented in a very tired manner, having spent the previous night in the Mater A&E department. Ms Culhane said the team used to call him the “homing pigeon” as he had often come to the office to sleep and get clean clothes. He was very keen to learn to read and write. “We were very fond of Daniel. He was always pleasant and courteous”.
Aileen Dunne, Daniel’s guardian ad litem when he was murdered said it was “unfathomable” that a special care committee in the Hse had turned down four social worker applications in 2009 for secure care for him. She said that in the absence of a secure care place she recommended that he be sent for therapeutic secure care at Hassela Gotland in Sweden but added that while Daniel and his family were in favour of this, the Hse was opposed. “This boy was running out of options and getting more and more at risk. It was actually frightening to meet him and see the upset, the distress. I don’t want any child in this country locked up but I do believe in Daniel’s head that he had this level of impulsivity that he was not able to regulate and he knew that. He wanted to be detained.”
Returning a verdict of unlawful killing, the jury recommended that the State carry out a review of its funding to child protection and welfare services delivered by Tusla to ensure that the agency has sufficient resourcing to keep children safe and that the agency review its approach to providing care services.
RECOMMEDATIONS
The jury said “it is imperative cases like that of Daniel McAnaspie must never happen again. If this were to occur, his death would have been in vain”. It also recommended that an inquisitorial panel of suitably qualified professionals be appointed urgently to consider the appropriate level of special care bed capacity that is required at the time of the inquest. The voice of the child, it added, should be front and centre of decisions around placement and that particular heed be taken of children who themselves request to be placed in secure care for their own safety. It said that if a determination for special care is refused by Tusla, there should be an independent appeal process to reconsider the determination.
Speaking after the inquest, Daniel’s younger sister Cathriona and aunt Sabrina McAnaspie said they felt let down by the State.
