McDowell asks for teen assault report

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has asked for a report into the garda handling of a high-profile case involving an alleged assault on a teenager.

Michael Gaffney claimed he was beaten in garda custody, an allegation strongly supported by Minister of State Dick Roche.

His case was highlighted on RTÉ’s Prime Time investigation into alleged garda ill-treatment last week.

The Department of Justice yesterday said Mr McDowell had asked Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy for a report on the case last October.

“Late last year, the minister asked the Garda Commissioner for a report on the matter. No report has been received at this stage,” a spokesman said.

In the Prime Time report Mr Roche described as “tantamount to torture” a beating allegedly inflicted on Mr Gaffney in a garda station in September 2001.

Mr Gaffney, then 18, was subsequently charged with assaulting a garda, but the case was thrown out in December 2002 after the judge expressed doubts about the evidence presented.

A complaint by Mr Gaffney against gardaí was investigated by the Garda Complaints Board, which found no breach of discipline on the part of any garda. Mr Roche described the investigation as derisory.

Garda authorities pointed out that the full complaints procedure has been exhausted in relation to the case.

A Department of Justice spokesman said Mr McDowell requested a report following representations from Mr Roche.

“Obviously the minister is precluded in the legislation from interfering in decisions made by the Garda Complaints Board. Notwithstanding the fact that the complaints board adjudicated on it, the minister has asked the Garda Commissioner for a report.”

This is understood to be only the second time Mr McDowell has asked garda authorities for a report on such cases.

The first time was in relation to sisters Gráinne and Ciara Walsh, who won damages and an apology in the High Court in July 2002 for assaults on them by gardaí in April 1998.