Coroner says police could not stop cyanide tablet suicide during family violence arrest

Police could not have stopped a man from taking a lethal dose of cyanide while they were arresting him, a coroner has found.

The two officers went to Phillip Reidy’s home in central Victoria on July 2, 2024, for questioning over an alleged family violence incident.

The 27-year-old was co-operative when he answered the door and was being handcuffed when he asked to use the bathroom.

The officers removed the handcuffs and allowed Reidy to go back inside, following closely behind him.

But instead of going to the bathroom, Reidy went straight to the bottle of cyanide tablets on his desk and took one with his back to the police.

He then took a swig of soft drink and within seconds, he began coughing and fell to his knees, saying the officers should tell his mother he loved her.

Police and paramedics tried to revive the 27-year-old but he died at the scene, with an autopsy later confirming it was from cyanide poisoning.

In his findings released on Wednesday, coroner Paul Lawrie found Reidy intentionally used the cyanide to take his own life.

The coroner accepted the two police officers should have been notified earlier that Reidy had the poison inside his home.

Reidy’s partner, who reported the family violence allegations earlier on July 2, told police he had tried to consume cyanide after a previous argument.

But that information was not conveyed to the two officers who were sent to arrest Reidy, Mr Lawrie said.

The coroner noted that information would have been helpful but it was not possible to conclude the police would have treated him differently.

“One cannot proceed beyond speculation that they would have ... been able to intervene,” Mr Lawrie said.

It was reasonable for the police to have allowed Reidy to use the bathroom given he was being calm and co-operative, the coroner said.

“No criticism should be made of the police members for failing to recognise what he was doing,” he said.

Mr Lawrie found Reidy bought 250 grams of the poison through a NSW website in July 2023 after filling in false information on a declaration form.

Reidy claimed the purchase was for scientific purposes and successfully obtained the exemption required in NSW, despite the made-up details.

“The falsity of the document should have been immediately suspected,” Mr Lawrie said.

While Mr Lawrie did not make formal recommendations, he did call for a uniformed national framework for the sale of schedule seven poisons.

He noted while it was possible to purchase cyanide in NSW with an exemption, such exemptions did not exist in Victoria.

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