Trial of gardaí accused of assault nears closing stages
The trial of four gardaí accused of breaking into a flat and assaulting its then-teenage occupant has reached its closing stages at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Gardaí Alan Conlon, Eoin Murtagh, Claire Delaney and Sean O’Leary have pleaded not guilty to forcing entry at a Basin Street Upper premises, entering as a trespasser and assaulting Mr Owen Gaffney (aged 21) causing him harm on February 17, 2008.
Gdi Murtagh, Conlon and Delaney have also pleaded not guilty to the false imprisonment of Ms Fidelma Gaffney on the same occasion.
Earlier, Mr Conor Devally SC, defending Gda Murtagh, called a witness who gave evidence about his client’s involvement in a public order incident on James Street on February 16, 2008.
Garda Margaret Burke told Mr Devally that she agreed to give Gda Murtagh a lift into town in her patrol car after he had come off duty that night.
She said she and her other colleague on patrol stopped a vehicle on the way because the driver had been travelling fast without a seat belt and noticed a fight had broken out further up the road among a group of about six or seven people.
She said she ran over to the group, took control of one male and noticed Gda Murtagh to her right trying to restrain someone in a dark hoodie, who was kicking out at him in an effort to escape.
She said she saw Gda Murtagh on the ground struggling with this person at one point.
Gda Burke told Mr Devally that her other colleague made two arrests further down the road and Gda Murtagh helped her handcuff the person with whom she had been struggling a short time later.
Gda Burke said when she asked Gda Murtagh if he was OK, he responded: “Gaffney got away.”
She told Mr Devally she saw a mark on the left side of Gda Murtagh’s face but can’t recall seeing blood.
She said the person she apprehended had alleged something about a chain being involved in the incident.
Gda Burke agreed with Mr Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, that in her statement she had said she couldn’t see whether the person struggling with Gda Murtagh had been male or female.
She further agreed that Gda Murtagh had declined to make a statement about the incident when asked and that she hadn’t seen Mr Gaffney during the incident.
She agreed the person she had restrained had never been charged with any offence.
The trial continues before Judge Desmond Hogan and a jury of six men and six women.
