A MAJOR investigation is underway into the alleged assault on a prisoner by prison officers at Portlaoise Prison.
The prisoner, Hasan Ali Gori, a self-confessed suspect in the murder of his partner’s mother, was transferred to Portlaoise from Limerick Prison on September 12.
Mr Ali Gori (50s) is understood to have sustained serious injuries including a collapsed lung and is being treated in hospital following an alleged assault.
Prison sources confirmed the investigation was to be referred to An Garda SÃochána.
The Irish Prison Service provided a statement to this reporter, confirming it has “received an allegation of assault of a prisoner”.
“All allegations of serious assault are referred to An Garda SÃochána for investigation and subject to the Irish Prison Service prisoner complaints process.”
Ali Gori allegedly sustained the injuries after he was transferred to Portlaoise Prison from Limerick Prison where he allegedly assaulted three prisoners on September 10.
A separate investigation is being conducted by the IPS into an alleged attack on the three prison officers, in which Ali Gori is alleged to have bitten the hands of two officers and punched a third.
One of the three injured officers required hospital treatment.
Ali Gori was previously arrested twice by Gardaà on suspicion of involvement in the murder of his partner Mary Ray’s elderly mother, 89-year-old Josephine ‘Josie’ Ray at her home at St Joseph’s Park, Nenagh, County Tipperary, on August 4, 2024.
Mr Ali Gori and Mary Ray were both questioned by detectives investigating the murder. The pair left Nenagh after the killing and were living in a tent in a rat-infested wetlands situated off the Condell Road in Limerick City.
When this reporter met the pair at their makeshift homeless campsite last April, Mr Ali Gori and Ms Ray said they had no involvement in Ms Ray’s mother’s death.
“I have nothing to do with this death, how is somebody accusing me of murder. I didn’t do anything to anybody,” Mr Gori said at the time.
Mary Ray was also adamant she was not involved in her mother’s murder.
The couple, who were both living with Josephine Ray, were initially both arrested on the day of her funeral.
Mary Ray said she found her mother’s lifeless body in bed but initially thought she was asleep.
Ms Ray and Mr Ali Gori said they had been run out of Nenagh after they were arrested by GardaÃ.
Mary Ray claimed they had also been subjected to intimidation at their homeless campsite in Limerick, saying that “we got attacked about my mother. They said, ‘you murdered your mother.'”
Mary Ray said she was in bed when her mother must have died.
When asked how he felt about Jospehine Ray’s death, Mr Gori replied: “Well, there’s nobody feels happy or joy”.
He said he was also mourning the death of his own mother, who he said died after suffering from shock of being told he had been arrested on suspicion of murdering Ms Ray.
Garda interactions with Josie at her home in the days before her death have been referred to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) including a Garda response at her house following a report of a disturbance less than 24-hours prior to her murder.
It’s reported that Gardaà had also been called to her home on several occasions during the months prior to her death in response to a number of different Âalleged complaints.
Gardaà were waiting to send a file on the murder to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions who will ultimately decide if charges are to be brought against anyone.
