A CLOSE friend of a man who died while being attended to by paramedics – who were later convicted of failing to provide reasonable care – has spoken out in the aftermath of the “traumatic” trial.
Kevin McCauley has criticised the public reaction to the legal proceedings concerning Frazer Irvine (39), who died in March 2022 after he called 999 following a suspected overdose.
Attending paramedics Tom Le Sauteur and John Sutherland were found guilty by Jurats in the Royal Court of a health and safety breach in relation to their response.
They were given two-year conditional discharges last month, after Jurats found that delays in delivering care on the night were unreasonable.
Both Mr Le Sauteur and Mr Sutherland have told the JEP that they will be appealing against their convictions and have acknowledged the support shown by colleagues and members of the public.
This has included a fundraiser – launched to help finance their legal fees – which has nearly reached its £50,000 target.
But Mr McCauley, who said he and Mr Irvine were “best friends” and has installed a small memorial in his garden, argued that the public reaction to the trial had been “one-sided”.
He stressed that the paramedics “made mistakes that night” and that “the public need to see that”.
Referring to negative messages and social media comments, Mr McCauley said: “At the end of the day, a man has lost his life and these people [commenting] didn’t know Frazer as well as we did.
“They weren’t in court to see any of the things we have seen,” he added.
Mr McCauley said the trial had been “traumatic” and described his friend as “a big friendly giant”.
“He would give you the shirt off his back – that’s the kind of guy Frazer was and so many people in Jersey loved him and would vouch for that,” he said.
