€1.4m compensation for widow and children of Garda Tony Golden approved in High Court
A settlement of €1.4m compensation for the widow and three children of murdered Garda Tony Golden was approved by Mr Justice Michael Twomey in the High Court today.
Siobhan Phelan SC told the court it had been agreed that Ms Nicola Golden, the late garda’s widow, would receive €961,000 with €439,000 being divided up among the couple’s children Andrew, Lucy and Alexandra.
Ms Phelan, who appeared with barrister Eamonn M.J. Coffey and James McGuill Solicitors for the family, said Lucy (10) would receive €137,000 for mental distress and loss of dependency; Alexandra (8) would receive €146,000 and Andrew (6) would receive €156,000. The money will be lodged to their benefit in court until they are 18 but application for interim pay-outs on their behalf may be made to the court.
Micheal O’Scanaill SC, who appeared with barrister Joseph O’Sullivan and Tanya Canning for the Minister for Expenditure and Reform, told Judge Twomey that the parties had agreed to mediation and had met in Dundalk on Friday and had finalised all issues.
He said a global figure of €1.4m had been agreed and details of how much would be received by each dependant would be outlined to the court by Ms Phelan. He said that on behalf of the Minister and everyone engaged in the mediation he wished to extend deepest sympathy to Ms Golden and her three children following their tragic loss.
Judge Twomey, sympathising with the family while approving the settlements, complimented all parties involved in the mediation on the basis that it had prevented the family from the stress of a full trial to measure compensation.
Ms Golden was a State nurse with the HSE at the time of the murder but had not worked since the shooting of her husband and, the court heard previously, could no longer work in the position.
Garda Tony Golden was 36 when he had been shot after responding to a domestic violence complaint in Omeath, Co Louth, on October 11, 2015. He was shot five times and killed in a murder-suicide attack that had shocked the nation.
In uniform and unarmed he had accompanied Siobhan Philips (23) to the house she shared with her physically abusive partner Adrian Crevan Mackin only to have been brutally killed by him, a known dissident Republican who had been released on bail on a charge of membership of the IRA. He had previously been given a three-year suspended sentence on firearms charges in the North.
Mackin, after shooting Garda Golden, shot his partner four times, including one bullet to her head before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.
Ms Philips, who survived her injuries, is living in Co Down. She had two children by Mackin and has issued personal injury proceedings against the Commissioner of An Garda Siochana, the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General alleging negligence.
Today’s court orders included all of the Golden family’s legal costs which are to be adjudicated upon in default of agreement.
