{"id":491175,"date":"2026-05-18T20:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/491175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:19:11","slug":"gardai-investigate-role-of-security-guards-restraint-in-case-of-man-who-died-on-henry-street-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/491175\/","title":{"rendered":"Garda\u00ed investigate role of security guards\u2019 restraint in case of man who died on Henry Street \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Investigations into the death of a man<\/a> after he was restrained by security guards in Dublin<\/a> city centre are focused on whether the manner he was held at the scene, and the force used, were a factor in his death. <\/p>\n

Sources said further analysis of the postmortem on his remains was required before the reasons why he became unresponsive and died could be conclusively determined.<\/p>\n

The Congolese man, Yves Sakila (35) who was was suspected of shoplifting from a retailer. <\/p>\n

He had lived in Ireland since 2004<\/p>\n

He was pursued by security personnel on Henry Street<\/a> last Friday shortly after 5pm. He knocked an elderly man to the ground as he fled, leaving the pensioner seriously injured. The man is still hospitalised.<\/p>\n

When garda\u00ed<\/a> arrived on the scene, Sakila had been held on the ground by a group of security guards for a period. The injured man, in his 80s, was also on the ground a few metres away. <\/p>\n

The responding garda\u00ed handcuffed Sakila in an apparent bid to get control of the situation and attend to the injured pensioner.<\/p>\n

However, almost immediately after the handcuffs were applied, garda\u00ed realised Sakila was unwell, removed the handcuffs and began performing CPR. He was then taken to the Mater hospital<\/a> where he was later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

Video footage of the first part of the incident, involving a group of men restraining the deceased, has been circulating on messaging apps. <\/p>\n

It shows the group, at least some of whom are security personnel, holding Sakila to the ground as he is face down on the pedestrianised street.<\/p>\n

One of the men in the footage can be seen briefly trying to place his knee on Sakila\u2019s head or neck to restrain him. <\/p>\n

The same man and a second person then use their hands to hold Sakila\u2019s head or neck to the ground, while several other people hold him down by the body and legs.<\/p>\n

The footage is almost five minutes in length, during which five people can be seen holding Sakila pending the arrival of garda\u00ed who had been alerted to what was taking place. <\/p>\n

No members of the Garda appeared to be at the scene as the footage was recorded and none appear in the video.<\/p>\n

The Irish Network Against Racism issued a statement in which it expressed concern about the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe death of a black man in such circumstances is extremely worrying, and we urge the authorities to thoroughly investigate all of the circumstances leading to this man\u2019s death, in order to ensure minority ethnic community confidence in the criminal justice system,\u201d the organisation\u2019s director Shane O\u2019Curry said.<\/p>\n

The Congolese community in Dublin plans a vigil for Sakila on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

While the Garda is carrying out an investigation into the events on Henry Street, Sakila\u2019s death has also been referred by Garda Headquarters to Fiosr\u00fa<\/a>, the Office of the Police Ombudsman.<\/p>\n

Fiosr\u00fa investigates any incident where a person is seriously injured or dies at or around the time they have had contact or dealings with members of the Garda. <\/p>\n

Under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, Garda Headquarters is legally obliged to refer such incidents to Fiosr\u00fa for investigation. <\/p>\n

The legislation is a catch-all to ensure any incident is brought to the attention of Fiosr\u00fa, even if the injury or death investigated is later found to be unrelated to the actions of garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

In reply to queries from The Irish Times, Fiosr\u00fa confirmed its investigators had attended the scene on Henry Street last Friday. It declined to comment on whether the man was handcuffed by garda\u00ed before he became unresponsive.<\/p>\n

Fiosr\u00fa also confirmed it is now investigating the fatal incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe referral was made as a result of an incident which involved the death of an individual in the Dublin Metropolitan Region,\u201d it said. \u201cFiosr\u00fa\u2019s on-call team of investigators attended the scene.\u201d As \u201cthe matter is now under investigation\u201d, Fiosr\u00fa added it \u201ccannot make any further comment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Garda Headquarters said it had no further comment to add on the incident since a statement was released on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cGarda\u00ed were alerted after security personnel detained a male on Henry Street in connection with an alleged shoplifting incident at a retail store,\u201d it said in Saturday\u2019s statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the incident, a man in his 80s was injured as the suspect attempted to flee,\u201d it said, adding Sakila, whom it did not name, and the elderly man were taken to the Mater hospital, where Sakila was later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

The scene was preserved for examination, the coroner notified and a referral made to Fiosr\u00fa, the statement said. The \u201cresults of the postmortem will assist garda\u00ed in determining the course of their investigation\u201d, it added.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed appealed to witnesses and anyone who was recording video in the area at the time to contact the investigation team at Store Street Garda station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Investigations into the death of a man after he was restrained by security guards in Dublin city centre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[956,9,10,52,18,13,14,5650,6,35305,19,17,11,12,15,16,83539,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-491175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dublin","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fiosru","tag-headlines","tag-henry-street","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-mater-hospital","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116597435075223749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}