Relatives feared for Oísin Reddin's safety in ongoing custody battle with father, reports say

Ellen O'Donoghue

Relatives of Oísin Reddin, the 12-year-old boy gardaí believe was murdered by his father, were engaged in a legal custody battle, according to reports.

Members of his extended family were very concerned for the child’s safety while he was in the care of his father, The Irish Times reported on Saturday.

The paper said it understood the next court hearing was due to take place in less than two weeks.

The young boy’s remains were found in a house in Clondalkin, Dublin, on Thursday morning. The discovery was made shortly after the body of his father, Wayne O’Reilly (48), was found at a property in Ballyfermot, also in west Dublin.

Oísin’s extended family had cared for the boy when he was an infant and had engaged in a legal battle for several years to secure custody, according to The Irish Times.

Mr O’Reilly had made threats against them, including warning them he would harm the boy if he ever lost custody of him.

It was unclear if the authorities – the gardaí, Tusla or the courts – ever believed there was genuine intent in those threats to harm and kill, which appear to have been made when Oísin was still very young and during an emotive custody process.

Mr O’Reilly was ultimately successful in gaining custody of the boy.

Mr O’Reilly had also come to the attention of gardaí and had been arrested a number of times under the Mental Health Act. Last October he went missing with his son, raising fears for their safety.

Family members reported them missing, and gardaí issued a public appeal for information. They turned up safe and well a day after they were reported missing.

Tusla, the child and family agency, had been in contact with the family to support them and monitor the situation, and when Mr O’Reilly went missing with the child, the agency put a safety plan in place, according to reports.

Mr O’Reilly continued to have custody of Oísin, pending the outcome of the legal proceedings.

The last checks made by Tusla were conducted just before Christmas, and it appears Oísin was well at that time and had been attending school in Clondalkin, and doing well there, The Irish Times reported.

However, on Thursday morning, Mr O’Reilly's remains were found in the back garden of his ex-partner’s house at Cherry Orchard Drive, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, at around 8.30am.

The discovery gave rise to immediate concerns for the welfare of his son. Then at a house on Lealand Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, where Mr O’Reilly had been living, they found the remains of the boy.

Postmortems on the remains of Oísin and Mr O’Reilly have been completed, but their results are not being released for operational reasons.

However, gardaí strongly suspect Mr O’Reilly killed his son, possibly by asphyxiating him, at the house on Leeland Road before travelling to his ex-partner’s home at Cherry Orchard Drive and taking his life in the back garden, The Irish Times report said.

Tusla said that while Oísin was not in the care of the State, the family was known to the agency. It added “the death of a child is a tragedy” and extended its sympathies to Oísin’s family.

“We continue to engage with An Garda Síochána as they conduct their investigation, and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time,” it said in a statement.