Garda recounts violent sexual assault by man at Puck Fair

A FEMALE garda has told a court she was violently grabbed in the crotch by a married man who she was trying to arrest at Puck Fair, in Killorglin, Co Kerry, in the early hours of August 13, 2008.

The garda claimed the man was “manic”, saying he gripped and painfully squeezed her vaginal area as she attempted to bring him to the local Garda station soon after 2am.

Cyril Moriarty, aged 53, of Tulligbeg, Killorglin, has gone on trial at the Circuit Criminal Court, in Tralee, charged with sexually assaulting the garda, as well as assault causing harm and obstruction.

The accused, who is married with children, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The garda, who had been drafted into the town to help police the age-old fair, said she approached the accused after receiving a report of a fight in O’Neill’s bar, Upper Bridge Street. She requested his name and address several times, but he refused and continually ignored her.

Thousands of people were on the streets and a garda who had been on the beat with her went off to deal with another incident. She was left on her own and sought the assistance of a bouncer, Mort O’Shea, who tried to help her bring the accused to the Garda station, but he dropped to his knees.

He was extremely aggressive, roaring and lashing out and she used her radio to scream for assistance, the garda said. She saw his hand go down between her legs. He caught hold of her vaginal area and started to squeeze. “I was horrified that someone could do this to me. The more I tried to move his hand, the more he squeezed. He was on the ground in front of me.”

Replying to Tom Rice, prosecuting, she said what was he was doing was “deliberate” because of the intense aggression on his face and he knew he was causing her pain.

“It was just this rage all over his face. I had never come across someone as angry as he was.

“I had never come across anything like this before in my time as a garda and had never seen it happening to a colleague. It was an embarrassing way to be assaulted. I was the only female there.”

As bouncers managed to get him to the door of the Garda station, he still had a grip on her, but released the grip at the door. She also said she sustained injuries to her hand during the incident and her wedding and engagement rings were covered in blood.

The garda, who was visibly upset as she gave evidence, said she had been as nice as she could have been to the man and was only doing her duty. She was also in full uniform and was wearing a yellow florescent jacket.

She said she was driven home afterwards by another garda and went to her doctor for a full examination the following morning.

Brian McInerney, defending, asked why she or other gardaí had not thought of taking her to the sexual assault unit.

The garda replied she normally accompanied victims of such assaults to that unit. “The thought of me going there myself was horrendous. It was very hard for me to accept me being an injured party in that respect.”

The case is continuing before Judge Carroll Moran.