€28k award after false extortion claim

A woman has been awarded €28,000 against the Garda after a High Court jury found she suffered emotional harm as a result of a false extortion allegation against her when she was a secondary school student.

Lydia O’Hara, 25, from Portlaoise, had sued the board of management of her former school, Scoil Chriost Ri in Portlaoise, and the Garda Commissioner, as a result of the false allegation.

After nearly four hours, the jury found emotional harm had been inflicted on her as a result of the gardaí’s actions on March 9, 2004, when she was brought into the principal’s office and accused of extortion by a garda following the allegation from a second-year student who made it up as a cover for stealing money from her family.