Ex-garda jailed for string of offences
Stephen Cooper, aged 29, who was a member of the force when the offences took place, also allowed a friend take the blame when gardaí found LSD during a search at the Electric Picnic music festival.
Cooper, of The Green, Kingswood Heights, Tallaght, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at the festival between September 5, 2009, and September 2, 2010, by knowingly allowing Luke Barnett to be wrongfully prosecuted on September 2, 2010.
Cooper was also charged with stealing a bag of cannabis herb worth €560 from Sundrive Garda Station on May 27, 2010, but this count was withdrawn by the prosecution.
Judge Mary Ellen Ring last month remanded Cooper in continuing custody and adjourned the matter to yesterday.
At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Ring noted that Cooper was a drug addict but held a privileged position in society. She said drugs can lead otherwise law-abiding people to commit crimes “and this no doubt applies to An Garda Síochána”.
Judge Ring described Cooper’s actions as a fundamental breach of the role of the gardaí and noted that he threatened a completely innocent member of the public into making false claims.
“This does a serious disservice to the public and to Mr Cooper’s then colleagues who seek to conduct themselves within the letter of the law,” said Judge Ring.
In mitigation, she noted Cooper is highly regarded by members of the community and is now drug-free and recently married. She also took into account that he has now lost his job and that, as a former garda, prison will be more difficult on him.
Cooper pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice between August 19, 2010, and October 21, 2011, when he attempted to get Stephanie Lynch to make a false statement implicating Wayne Finane in the theft of a car.
He also pleaded guilty to deception of Axa Insurance on November 12, 2010, by making a false insurance claim. Cooper made a false report to gardaí that the canopy of his 4x4 had been stolen when, in fact, it had blown off the vehicle while he was driving along the M50 on September 15, 2010.
Cooper further pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Ormond Quay on January 31, 2011.
After sentence was imposed, Cooper’s defence counsel asked that he be allowed to serve his time in the pre-release section of the jail, as has been the case with previous gardaí serving prison terms.
Judge Ring replied that those were cases where there was an early guilty plea, which was not the case with Cooper. However, she agreed to backdate the sentence to February in light of his eventual guilty plea.
Isobel Kennedy, defending, said her client’s offending behaviour stemmed from a long-standing drug addiction. She said he is now free of this addiction, has married, and has set up his own gym equipment business.
She said Cooper comes from a very respectable, hard-working family, and that his actions have had a devastating effect.
