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A doctor yesterday blew the lid on a damning new dossier of alleged Garda abuse within stations.

TDs were told by Dr Richard O’Flaherty of a catalogue of “horrific” assaults and mistreatment of people in custody.

The claims are set to heap more pressure on the embattled force, already bruised by corruption revelations.

Most disturbing in yesterday’s new raft of claims is the treatment of a 17-year-old Special Needs teenager allegedly beaten and whipped in Garda custody.

He was later found with a rope, intending to kill himself because cops told him his dad would suffer the same treatment.

Retired Dr O’Flaherty, a member of Justice4All, also told the Dail’s Justice Committee:

A diabetic was denied food, stopped from using a toilet and allowed to go into a coma

A cancer sufferer was interrogated by detectives for over 12 hours in front of a blinding light, and

He was threatened not to make his claims public or he would “regret it”.

Mr Flaherty, a GP in Limerick for 40 years, said he was harassed and intimidated by cops as he tried to bring the brutality cases to light.

He told the committee: “It is my work as a GP that brought me into contact with horrific problems.

“Working for the people of Limerick, part of my job is to attend Garda stations. What I have seen is horrific.”

The doctor told of one 45-year-old diabetic woman who went to a Garda station in 2003 to visit her sons but was arrested.

He said she was denied food and wasn’t allowed to go to the toilet, forcing her to wet herself.

Dr O’Flaherty added: “I advised her to immediately go to the hospital and they [gardai] said no, they wanted to interrogate her and get information about her sons.

“I said this lady was going into a diabetic coma, she needs medication and is unstable. They said, ‘No, you are interfering with course of justice’.”

The doctor said he went home and was telephoned to return because the woman had fallen ill.

He told the Justice Committee she is now “a vegetable in a city home”.

Dr O’Flaherty also wanted to describe the horrendous case of a 17-year-old Special Needs boy who was stripped and whipped with his own belt by gardai.

But this was blocked by the chairman David Stanton who said the aim of the meeting was to focus on the reforms needed to the Garda Siochana Act.

TDs Finian McGrath and Niall Collins argued he should be allowed continue with his statement as the committee needed to hear “human stories”.

They were overruled by Deputy Stanton – but in his full written submission seen by the Irish Mirror, Dr O’Flaherty said: “According to himself he was whipped with the buckle of his belt and laughed at by male and female gardai.

“A small packet was left in front of him and he was told it fell out of his pocket. He was released. The next day his father found him with rope – his intention was to hang himself.

“The boy said he was afraid because he was told the father would be arrested and that he thought he wouldn’t be if he was dead.”

Last night, Paddy Connolly, chief executive of Inclusion Ireland, said people with intellectual disabilities should never be held in custody alone.He told the Irish Mirror: “In a general sense any abuse of a person in Garda custody is a cause for concern.

“Someone with an intellectual disability should have someone with them at all times if taken into custody.

“They need a parent or guardian as an advocate – under no condition should they be interrogated by themselves.

“There is a significant dearth of knowledge for gardai when it comes to Special Needs. Support systems need to be put in place to support gardai, should they come into contact with a special needs individual in the course of their work.”

Earlier, Dr O’Flaherty told of a cancer patient interrogated by police.

He said: “She suffered from migraine and had an injection from a local doctor but continued to be interviewed for 12 hours with a bright light shining in her eyes, making her migraine intolerable.

“She asked for permission for the hood of her jacket to be placed over her eyes but was refused. There was no heat in her cell. She told me there were only two worn blankets and a mattress. A female garda on duty told me that they could not get a heater into the cell.”

Dr O’Flaherty also claimed he has been asked by cops to change statements and that he was warned by a superintendent in 2003 he would regret it if he did not.

Months later, he was arrested for drink-driving but maintains he was set up. The GP sent former Justice Minister Alan Shatter pictures of beatings of people in custody. Mr Shatter told him CCTV in cells would increase because of his intervention.

The Irish Council of Civil Liberties said 11 reports and reviews into the Garda were under way and the drip-drip revelations were destroying morale.