€390k for garda forced to quit

A former garda sergeant, who has lived in the shadow of a gunman for almost a decade was yesterday awarded more than €390,000 compensation for severe post-traumatic stress disorder and loss of career and social and family life.

Mr Justice Bernard Barton told ex-sergeant Seán Walzer the experience of seeing a masked man point a gun at him in the darkness of a lonely laneway had already cast a long and intrusive shadow over his life.

In a reserved judgment on a Garda compensation hearing in the High Court, the judge said Mr Walzer, of Mullinahone, Co Tipperary, had been confronted at gunpoint in Kelly’s Lane, Mullinahone, by a man wearing a balaclava.

Bruce Antoniotti, counsel for Mr Walzer, had earlier told the court he and a colleague had stopped in Kelly’s Lane shortly after 1am on September 5, 2005 to check out a suspicious car.

The masked man, who had a gun pointed at the two gardaí, had become aggressive and abusive and told them to “get the fuck out of here now or else”. He eventually sped off with two others in the car. which the gardaí followed but lost after a high-speed chase.

Judge Barton said three days later, Mr Walzer left the garda station following a late-night shift.

“He closed the door behind him and while standing on the doorstep he was overcome by a feeling of extreme fear and experienced a flashback to the confrontation at gunpoint,” the judge said.

Three years later, Mr Walzer was unable to continue after being diagnosed with PTSD and had to quit. He found himself unable to face his work and life itself.

Mr Walzer, in preparing his case, told his solicitors, Hughes Murphy, the 2005 incident had stolen some of the most valuable years of his life. He had been robbed of his pride and made a prisoner in his own life.

Judge Barton awarded Mr Walzer €125,000 for pain and suffering to date and €50,000 for suffering into the future. He added €46,143.36 for vouched special damages and €170,000 for past and future medical expenses and loss of earnings — a total of €391,143.36.