The Garda investigation into the death of Dublin boy Daniel Aruebose has been dealt a major blow after the postmortem examination on his skeletal remains failed to establish a cause of death.
Despite a lengthy search operation to find his remains, and the postmortem that followed, gardaí are still unable to determine if he was the victim of foul play.
Garda have been told, in interviews with people who knew Daniel, he died of natural causes aged about 3½ years and that his body was buried in a field in Donabate, north Dublin, in the panic after his death.
Further testing on the remains is planned, including scans of the bones, in an effort to harvest as much information as possible. However, the investigation is now continuing in the absence of forensic pathology evidence that either proves or rules out foul play.
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“In many ways it’s the worst possible outcome,” said one source of gardaí still not being in a position to pursue an investigation strategy based on homicide or natural death.
In reply to queries, Garda Headquarters said gardaí in Swords station, north Dublin, were “continuing to investigate all of the circumstances of the disappearance of Daniel Aruebose”. It added the results of the postmortem conducted last Friday at the Dublin City Mortuary were “not being released for operational reasons”.
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“Formal identification of the remains will now have to be carried out including DNA analysis,” it said, adding gardaí were still urging anyone who knew Daniel, or had any information about the case, to contact Swords station.
The Irish Times understands almost immediately after gardaí last month commenced their investigation into Daniel’s death they established he had died about four years ago. A small number of witnesses gave very specific details about what they claimed was the manner of his death.
One witness suggested Daniel had effectively died at the hands of another person. However, a second witness who was interviewed told gardaí Daniel was found dead in his bed one morning and was later buried, in the field, amid a sense of panic and shock.
Since then, the witness who suggested Daniel’s death was foul play has offered a different version of accounts. They too are now claiming Daniel was found dead one morning from apparently natural, though unexplained, causes.
However, while the claims made by those two witnesses now appear to correspond around how Daniel died, other discrepancies have emerged. This includes what happened after it is claimed he died, including efforts to revive him.
Gardaí are now focused on singling out those discrepancies and using them to test the accounts offered to date by the key people of interest. They have already been interviewed under caution, though not arrested.
Sources said even if a cause of death was never determined, which now seems unlikely, criminal charges may follow around the failure to notify the authorities of Daniel’s death and his illegal burial.
The secret burial – in 2021 when he was aged about 3½ – concealed his death until last month when a check of a social welfare payments first raised concerns for his safety and whereabouts. Those initial concerns among staff at the Department of Social Protection were quickly escalated to a report to the Garda, via Tusla, the child and family agency.
Some of the people who knew Daniel were interviewed. Information supplied during those interviews resulted in the field just outside Donabate village, on Portrane Road, being identified as the boy’s burial ground. Last Wednesday, in the third week of the search, his skeletal remains were found there.
Though gardaí were encouraged by the discovery, that was tempered when the level of decomposition of the bones became clear. Hopes faded the postmortem would determine the cause of death.
