Gardaí cleared of assault but face €14k bill

Representatives of rank-and-file gardaí have launched an attack on the Ombudsman Commission after two members were left to pay their own legal bills after being cleared of assaulting a violent teenager whose own mother described him as “an absolute gurrier of the highest order”.

The two gardaí face a combined legal bill of €14,000 because the State is refusing to pay their costs. The Garda Representative Association (GRA) also said thousands of euro was wasted during the case against two of its Cork city-based members.

The GRA criticised the manner in which the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission pursued the case against them and the State’s refusal to pay their costs.