Grounds for further investigation
On February 25, 2007, minibus driver Lorraine Browne rang Bailieborough Garda Station seeking help to deal with youths who were refusing to leave the vehicle and who had harassed, abused and threatened herself and other passengers and groped female passengers.
Probationer garda, Garda Alpha*, who investigated, recorded on the PULSE system only that: “Three males caused disturbance on minibus on Main Street, Kingscourt. To proceed by summons.”
Sgt McCabe complained that no investigation file was completed because Garda Alpha told Ms Browne she had no case and facilitated the payment of €150 to her from the suspects on the understanding that she would withdraw her complaint.
He complained that the incident potentially involved false imprisonment and sexual assault.
Guerin said Ms Browne’s detailed statement was not properly considered by Garda Alpha, his supervising officer or a superintendent who looked into the matter.
A training sergeant reviewing Garda Alpha’s work was concerned by the incident and said it merited disciplinary investigation, noting Garda Alpha got little or no supervision from his supervisory sergeant.
The training sergeant’s report went through a superintendent and chief superintendent — all the way to an assistant commissioner at Garda HQ. Despite this, Guerin said: “I have seen no evidence that the want of supervision identified by the training sergeant was seen as meriting comment or action at any of these levels.”
When Assistant Commissioner Derek Byrne and Chief Superintendent Terry McGinn were assigned by Garda HQ to examine Sgt McCabe’s complaint on this incident in 2008, they concluded: “His assertion that the incident involved false imprisonment and sexual assault is a gross exaggeration of the facts”.
Guerin said it was difficult to understand how they concluded this without having seen a statement from the victim.
Ms Browne made a complaint to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) but it was investigated by a superintendent in the division, not an independent person. The GSOC files were not given to Guerin, who concluded: “In my opinion, these matters warrant further inquiry in an appropriate forum in the public interest.”
Mr White* was hospitalised with head injuries after an assault outside the Lakeside Manor Hotel in Virginia, Co Cavan in the early hours of April 14, 2007.
Garda Echo* identified two men as involved and one was charged with assault causing harm.
He arrested and questioned the second man but released him without charge.
The case was due to come before the court when Sgt McCabe reviewed it and found Garda Echo had failed to obtain CCTV footage from the hotel and had not interviewed witnesses to the incident.
Adjournments were sought to try to get the CCTV images but an inexplicable technical problem arose and they were not obtained. The case went to court and the judge dismissed it with criticism of the Garda investigation.
Sgt McCabe raised the matter with a superintendent who accepted mistakes were made, but put it down to Garda Echo’s inexperience; said he’d take action if there was a repeat of the failings; and put Sgt McCabe in charge of monitoring Garda Echo. Sgt McCabe was unhappy with this outcome and complained disciplinary proceedings should have been taken.
Guerin noted no report of Garda Echo’s breaches was made and said the superintendent’s warning against a repeat was inadequate given that junior officers only spent short periods in the district.
He concluded further investigation was warranted.
Jerry McGrath is serving life in prison for the murder in a Limerick hotel of Sylvia Roche-Kelly on December 7, 2007.
At the time, he was on bail after being charged with two separate serious offences — assault on a female taxi driver, Mary Lynch, in Cavan in April 2007 and break-in and abduction at a house in Tipperary in which he was caught trying to leave with a five-year-old child he had pulled from her bed.
Despite the seriousness of the Cavan incident he was initially charged with a minor assault and released on bail on condition he live with his parents in Tipperary.
When arrested for the Tipperary offences, the entry in the Pulse system was: “Youth discovered in house arrested at scene. Nothing taken or damaged.”
Guerin stated: “It need hardly be said that this narrative does not capture the gravity of the incident and would not have been sufficient to alert anyone reading the record to its true nature.”
When the question of bail came up for McGrath in Tipperary, a garda checking with Cavan about the assault there said: “They informed me that this was a dispute over a taxi fare.” Guerin described this assessment as “plainly inadequate”.
Gardaí in Tipperary did not know about the Cavan bail condition that McGrath reside with his parents and so did not know he had breached it.
The Cavan charge was later upgraded to “assault causing harm” but a garda at the bail hearing in Tipperary who expressed concern that McGrath could re-offend if released did not give details.
“If I had been questioned by either the defence or the judge why I believed he would commit further offences I would have used the Cavan incident. But once the judge read the psychiatric report the judge immediately granted McGrath bail,” he said.
Guerin asked for the psychiatric report but did not get it, and a bail book recording the times McGrath was to have signed on at his local Garda station cannot be located.
Guerin also asked for records of the decisions around the charging and release of McGrath in Cavan but was told there are none.
A GSOC investigation was commenced at the Cavan victim’s request but was discontinued because it fell outside the required time limit for making complaints
Guerin said a further inquiry into all aspects of the case was warranted and noted that Sgt McCabe may be unfairly connected to it.
“The possibility that Sgt McCabe, who by 2010 appears to have been widely known as a member who had made complaints about other members, was being described as being involved in significant aspects of the case that he may not have been involved in is a matter of some concern.”
In September 2007, gardaí at Bailieborough took statements from a youth and his parents regarding a complaint of sexual abuse by a priest. Guerin said the initial investigation was commendable and search warrants were issued within days — resulting in the seizure of a computer — and the priest arrested.
The priest admitted certain sexual offences. The file to the DPP by Superintendent Delta* made no reference to the computer. DPP recommended prosecution and the priest got five years.
A Supt O’Brien began looking for the computer after the local bishop asked for it back. There was a reference in a garda’s notebook that the computer was given to Sgt McCabe, who said he knew nothing about it.
In July 2011 Supt O’Brien told Chief Supt Rooney he was of the view Sgt McCabe was in breach of discipline and of neglect of duty for not properly recording an exhibit.
A Supt Maguire was asked to investigate and he recommended disciplinary proceedings in February 2012. Guerin said it was “not clear” why this happened, but noted it came within 10 days of a complaint having been received from the Confidential Recipient, which blamed Supt Foxtrot* for the loss of the computer. It was not until August 2013 that no case was found against Sgt McCabe.
Guerin noted that a number of senior officers supported disciplinary proceedings against Sgt McCabe, but that none recommended them against members of the investigating team over the failure to examine the computer or its loss.
Guerin called for further inquiry.
Sgt McCabe met with McGinn and Byrne at the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan. The meeting was to inform him of the outcome of their investigation into 46 separate allegations made by him. Some 11 of them were upheld, 10 were being investigated, five had identified issues and the rest were not upheld.
There was a confrontation between Byrne and McCabe, in which Byrne blocked his path and took two boxes of Pulse printouts from him. McCabe made a complaint to the commissioner in October 2010, disputing the findings of the Byrne-McGinn investigation, alleging assault against Byrne and making further allegations of wrongdoing under the management of Supt Foxtrot* and Supt Delta*.
The commissioner appointed deputy commissioner Nacie Rice to investigate.
In April 2011, Sgt McCabe’s wife emailed the minister about a death threat to her husband from a garda. Sgt McCabe’s father informed the commissioner’s office and Sgt McCabe also confirmed the threat.
Guerin said Sgt McCabe lost confidence in the internal investigation as the abuses he complained of had been referred by Rice back to the division and districts they occurred in.
Guerin said DC Rice’s recommendation to the DPP against charging Byrne with assault was reasonable and that he had no concern of the adequacy of Rice’s investigation.
But Guerin said his own analysis of Pulse records in Cavan/Monaghan suggested cases were not being pursued and added: “The possibility that large numbers of detected offences go unprosecuted and therefore unpunished would be corrosive of public confidence in the criminal justice system and an encouragement to lawlessness.
“The detailed examination I have made of a small number of records has revealed information which supports the allegations made by Sgt McCabe that records were altered or falsified to destroy or conceal evidence of neglect of duty.
“The less detailed examination I have conducted of 50 other incidents suggests that this issue may have a wider application. I cannot and do not make any determination as to whether such alteration or falsification occurred or, if so, for what reason; nor can I or do I make any determination that there was neglect of duty. It is, however, impossible to consider the information available at this stage without considerable concern.”
He called for further inquiry.
In December 2009 Insp/Acting Supt Delta* outlined the dire conditions at Bailieborough Garda Station.
“They were, in my opinion, simply not fit for purpose. There were health risks in relation to the constant stench from the ground floor toilets and there are no fire escapes on the first floor. The offices are cramped. There are no storage facilities. The only exit from the first floor is a wooden staircase with no fire retardant. There were no secure facilities for processing prisoners and the processing took place in full view of the public.”
In a statement, Chief Supt Rooney said the report submitted by Insp Delta was submitted without consultation with Supt Foxtrot.
On January 23, 2012, to the Confidential Recipient, Sgt McCabe alleged that Supt Foxtrot hid the document prepared by Insp Delta.
Guerin said: “While it is apparent that the deficiencies in the accommodation at Bailieborough were widely recognised and were being acted upon, what causes concern in relation to this particular incident is whether it is reflective of the way in which criticism of Garda management was handled within the force.
“It would be a matter of concern that the critical voice of an experienced officer would be silenced; it would be a matter of altogether greater concern if an effort were made to pretend that he had never spoken.”
Guerin said there were grounds for concern Sgt McCabe’s complaint was not adequately investigated and warranted further inquiry.
A fast food restaurant worker who called gardaí after a man urinated into a vinegar bottle and left it on a table, complained of intimidation after two gardaí brought the culprit to her and urged her to talk to him.
She was also fobbed off subsequently with excuses about the progress of the investigation after she asked for it to be pursued.
Sgt McCabe complained about the way the injured party was treated but Supt McGinn, who examined the complaint, while finding the matter was not investigated properly, also blamed Sgt McCabe for not taking sufficient action on the issue.
Guerin said: “I have a number of concerns about how this conclusion was arrived at,” and said the matter warranted further inquiry.
A 17-year-old girl reported being followed and grabbed by a man, who covered her mouth, while walking home in the early hours of September 2, 2007.
She escaped, but the subsequent investigation was carried out by an inexperienced probationer garda and despite claims that CCTV footage was sought and surveillance of a suspect carried out, there were no records of this.
One man was arrested, who did not fit the girl’s descriptions.
Guerin said: “I have seen no document which identifies any grounds for suspecting that the person who was arrested for this offence may have committed it.”
He said the matter required further investigation.
People ejected from a nightclub on St Stephen’s night 2007 got into a car which was reversed at speed, knocking a man to the ground, and then driven forward at speed, striking another person.
The incident was logged on Pulse as a traffic incident with non-serious injury.
Guerin said despite the many witnesses, “no real investigation took place for some considerable time” and no prosecution resulted.
Sgt McCabe complained about the handling of the case and Guerin said he was unfairly implicated in the investigation’s shortcomings. Guerin urged further investigation.
A man was assaulted in a pub in Bailieborough in May 2007 but later withdrew his complaint in unclear circumstances and witnesses were not interviewed.
CCTV footage from the pub was not sought for six months and not examined for another four months, at which point it was realised that the CCTV system only retained images for three days.
The case went to the DPP but no prosecution could be brought. Sgt McCabe complained about the handling of the case and an inquiry blamed the CCTV system. Guerin said there was no fault with the system but with the failure to obtain the footage in a timely fashion. He said further inquiry was necessary.
