Retired detective awarded €150k
Michael McMahon, aged 67, of Ryevale Lawns, Leixlip, Co Kildare, told Ms Justice Mary Irvine that he suffered trauma and psychological injuries after seeing Garda Patrick Reynolds shot dead by the INLA on Feb 20, 1982.
Barrister Michael Byrne SC, who appeared with Pat Purcell for Mr McMahon, said the former garda had developed post-traumatic stress disorder after the shooting at Avonbeg Gardens Flats, Tallaght.
While continuing in his work in the Garda Síochána he had developed a dependency on alcohol that ended in the temporary break-up of his marriage and his developing epilepsy because of his alcoholism.
Mr McMahon told the court that as the result of an anonymous phonecall, he and four other gardaí went to the flats in a squad car.
He said Garda Reynolds and Sgt Patrick O’Brien had sealed off the rear of the flats while he and Garda Thomas Quinn went to a flat on the second balcony.
They shouted out they were gardaí and entered a flat. Seconds later he heard sounds from the bathroom and found his colleague engaged in a struggle.
“I tried to force my way into the bathroom and was unable to do so but I saw a sub-machine gun lying on the floor inside and tried to reach it,” he said. “I was unable to do so because of the number of men struggling inside.”
He ran to the patrol car to call for armed assistance but found the car locked.
“I heard two shots and called over a hand-held radio for urgent assistance, reporting that shots were being fired. I saw Garda Reynolds run towards the road. There were at least two more gunshots from the balcony and Garda Reynolds fell to the ground. I ran to Garda Reynolds who was lying face down with blood coming out of his mouth. I got down and said a prayer for him.”
Mr McMahon told Mr Byrne he accompanied Garda Reynolds to hospital in an ambulance to hospital. A doctor told him Garda Reynolds was dead on arrival.
He became aware arrests had been made and that a large sum of money and a gun had been found in the bathroom.
The former detective said Sean Hughes, from Belfast, had been charged with the murder of Garda Patrick Reynolds but had been acquitted in the Special Criminal court in March 2000.
Judge Irvine said she accepted Det McMahon had seen Garda Reynolds shot and fall and had tended him on the ground.
She awarded him €150,000 damages against the State for a 20-year psychological injury caused maliciously by the recklessness of the gunman who had shot down Garda Reynolds.
She said he had become addicted to alcohol for a number of years with a devastating effect on his marriage which had broken up before overcoming his alcoholism and working his way back into his home and family.
He had developed epilepsy because of his drinking which had, for years, masked his post- traumatic stress disorder.
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