A man accused of the murder of his wife and two children took his own life in his prison cell only six days before he was due to stand trial at the Central Criminal Court in 2022.
A new prison watch-dog report records that just after 3.30pm on June 9th 2022, Sameer Syed (39) was found dead in his cell at the Midlands Prison.
Arising from the circumstances around the death of Mr Syed of Grosvenor Lodge, Rathmines, Dublin 6, the report by the Office of the Inspector of Prisons (OIP) has recommended that when conducting routine checks of cells, prison officers should be especially attentive to the presence of non-standard items, such as “hammock” type footrests, that could be deployed as ligatures.
Mr Syed’s death occurred only six days before he was due to stand trial for the murder of his wife Seema Banu (37), his daughter Asfira Riza (11) and son Faizan Syed (6) at Llewellyn Court, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 on October 28th 2020.
Seema Banu, who was from India, lived in a house in Llewellyn Court with her two children.
Their bodies were found after residents in the estate became concerned when the family hadn’t been seen in several days and alerted the Gardaí.
Mr Syed was on remand at the Midlands Prison ahead of his expected five-week long murder trial and in an investigation into the circumstances into the prison death of Mr Syed by the OIP, it records that at a Prison Service critical incident meeting the day after Mr Syed’s death, a doctor stated that Mr Syed had denied having any thoughts of self-harm following his meeting with an independent psychologist on June 9th.
The report also records the desperate attempts made by prison staff to revive Mr Syed after he was found unresponsive in his prison cell just after 3.30pm.
Mr Syed’s death was the fifth death of a prisoner from the Midlands Prison in 2022 and the 11th death in Irish Prison Service (IPS) custody that year.
The report doesn’t name Mr Syed or any other party, and it records that on the day, at 11:45am, Mr Syed received an in-person professional visit from an independent psychologist and the meeting related to his upcoming trial was organised by his legal team.
The meeting lasted for around 30 minutes and Mr Syed returned to his landing where he collected his meal and was locked back in his cell with another prisoner.
At 2.30pm, the prisoner sharing Mr Syed’s prison cell left the cell to go to the outdoor yard and Mr Syed remained in the locked cell.
At 3.32pm, the prisoner returned to the cell. He discovered Mr Syed with a ligature around his neck and exited the cell 10 seconds later to alert prison officers.
A prison officer cut the ligature and commenced CPR in a bid to revive Mr Syed. Nurse Officers immediately took over resuscitation attempts on arriving at the scene.
A defibrillator was also used without any success and a doctor pronounced the death of Mr. Syed at 4.18pm.
In an interview with the OIP the following day, Mr Syed’s cellmate of four months described Mr Syed as an “easy going” person who enjoyed art and playing chess.
On the day of Mr Syed’s death, the cellmate reported watching television with Mr. Syed while locked in the cell during the meal period.
He described Mr. Syed as being jovial and making a number of humorous comments in relation to the television programmes they watched together.
He described a footrest that Mr. Syed had constructed by weaving towels and bed linen together into a hammock like formation and it was secured to both ends of the lower bunk beds. The prisoner stated that this was used as a foot rest while sitting on the lower bunk.
The cellmate stated that Mr Syed had used the ‘hammock like’ footrest as a ligature.
The prisoner said that after making the grim discovery, "I was shocked.”
The anonymised OIP report recorded that, following his transfer to the Midlands Prison on 22 December 2020, Mr. Syed was subject to an ongoing review by the in-reach psychiatric team.
In February 2021, a psychiatric nurse recorded that there was “no evidence of symptoms or major affective or psychotic illness”.
On March 31st 2021, Mr Syed was seen by a consultant psychiatrist who recorded that there was “no overt evidence of symptoms of major affective or psychotic illness”.
No recommendations were recorded at the conclusion of the IPS critical incident meeting on June 10th.
In one of three recommendations, the OIP has recommended that when conducting routine checks of cells, prison officers should be especially attentive to the presence of non-standard items, such as “hammock” type footrests, that could be deployed as ligatures.
The OIP states that "if detected, such items should be immediately confiscated and a clear written record kept of their confiscation, indicating the cell location and the name of the prisoner concerned”.
The report records that Mr Syed’s next of kin, his father, told his son’s lawyer that he didn’t believe Mr Syed would have harmed himself.
