Gardaí deny leaks to media
The gardaí made the denials on the second day of the action taken by Mr Alan Gray, his wife Phyllis and their son Francis, Drumalee Road, North Circular Road, Dublin. They are suing the Justice Minister and the Attorney General for damages, claiming that their constitutional right to privacy was breached when gardaí leaked to the media information that a relation, James O’Donoghue a convicted sex offender, had been residing with them.
Following the revelations the family were shunned by the local community and decided to returned to Dublin.
As a result they claim they suffered mental distress, anxiety, and personal injury.
The State denies all the claims.
At the High Court yesterday retired Detective Garda James O’Neill told counsel for the State Jeremy Maher SC that he called to the house on Sunday, April 4, 1999, along with Detective Garda Queally, and was let in by Francis Gray.
On the way he passed his father Alan Gray, whom he knew and his wife, driving away from their home at Marconi drive in Ballybunion.
He spoke to their cousin James O’Donoghue in the house as he wanted to know what his future intentions were.
He described their interaction as a “civil conversation,” which lasted no more than 90 seconds.
He denied claims that he had pushed Francis Gray, as had been contended, or that he threatened James O’Donoghue.
He had no idea how the media got their information about the matter.
Under cross-examination from John Rogers SC, the retired detective said that he went to meet O’Donoghue as a matter of “courtesy”.
Francis Gray told Mr Rogers that on Sunday, April 4, 1999, two gardaí called to the front door of his house.
One was uniformed and the other was in plain-clothes. His mother Phyliss was upstairs, James O’Donoghue was in the sitting room watching TV.
He said that when he opened the door the plain clothes garda stood on his foot and pushed him back.
Mr Gray said that the garda entered the hall and pushed him again. He was told by the garda to “get the f**k out,” and to “take a walk”.
He claimed that the gardaí went into the sitting room, closed the door and started threatening O’Donoghue.
He said the garda in plainclothes told O’Donoghue that if he did not get out of Ballybunion he “would put him in the back of a van with five pitt bulls and leave him there”.
He was 17 years of age at time, and said that James O’Donoghue, who he got on with, stayed with them in Kerry because he was fearful about being in Dublin.
Gray admitted that he had got into trouble with the gardaí after stealing a handbag from a house in Ballylongford. He also admitted having been in trouble with the law since.
O’Donoghue, he said, was afraid to stay in Dublin.
His cousin got a “bad hiding” when he was thrown into the back of a van with a pit bull and broken glass. As a result O’Donoghue required 200 stitches.
He said that nobody other than he and his parents knew about his cousin’s past, as far as the younger ones were concerned he was just a cousin who had come to visit.
Under cross-examination, Francis Gray denied that his mother had been out of the house at the time and said that his account of what happened “was 100% true”.
Lucy Gray, who was 14 years old at the time, said that the phone was off the hook after details about James O’Donoghue were published.
She said she was asked questions — including had the rapist done anything to her — and she was also told not to go to the youth club she attended on Fridays.
Frank Quilter who ran a hotel and nightclub in Ballybunion at the time told Mr Maher that he and his staff heard rumours about O’Donoghue and his past history from the children that attended a roller disco he ran.
He said that he saw a man he believed to be James O’Donoghue looking at girls, and said that he saw O’Donoghue follow them.
The case before Mr Justice John Quirke continues.
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