Four gardaí cleared on all charges in assault trial

FOUR gardaí were last night found not guilty of 15 counts of assault, false imprisonment, trespass and forcible entry after a five-week trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Garda Claire Delaney sobbed when, at 5.30pm, she was found not guilty on the three counts against her. Half an hour later, her colleagues, Alan Conlon, Eoin Murtagh and Sean O’Leary, were also acquitted.

Friends and family of the alleged victim, Owen Gaffney, also wept loudly when the latter three were acquitted. Judge Desmond Hogan shouted for silence in the court, and soon after asked them to leave.

The four gardaí have been suspended from duty since soon after the incident on February 17, 2008. All left without making a comment, as did Gaffney’s family.

A spokesman for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) said the commission did what it was set up to do.

“We gathered the evidence and brought it to the appropriate forum. One of the functions of GSOC is to promote confidence in the police oversight system. Having these cases decided in open court should add to that confidence.”

The court heard the four were among a group of gardaí that arrived in the Basin Street flat complex in Dublin’s inner city and entered the flat where Gaffney lived with his mother.

Gaffney told the court he was woken up by the sound of the gardaí in his bedroom. He said he was then subjected to a sustained assault, in which batons were used. He identified Garda O’Leary and Garda Murtagh by appearance, although he initially identified Murtagh by a different name.

Gaffney was treated for his injuries in St James Hospital and was also photographed soon after the incident smeared with blood.

The gardaí denied all charges against them.