Woman’s claim of sexual assault by garda dismissed

The High Court has dismissed as “devoid of any foundation in fact” a woman’s claim she was sexually assaulted by a garda in his patrol car 13 years ago.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill said he found retired Garda Thomas Noonan’s evidence reliable and credible, whereas his accuser, Antoinette Canty, 33, was so “incoherently drunk” that she had no capacity for cognitive functioning on the night of the alleged incident.

The judge was satisfied she got a lift from a man in a dark car and something frightening had happened to her, but it was not by Mr Noonan, who was in his white, marked patrol car.