Garda: I was rugby tackled after querying fare in Dublin

A garda yesterday claimed before the High Court when he was off duty, he was rugby tackled to the ground by other gardaí, handcuffed, and arrested after querying the price of a taxi home.

Garda Oliver Cully, aged 55, who has been in the force over 30 years and works on protection duty at Áras and Uachtaráin, said he was left sitting on a Dublin street handcuffed until a Garda van came to take him to a station. He told a jury he felt totally embarrassed to be sitting in handcuffs on the street opposite a pub which is a “Garda haunt”.

He had queried a charge of €35 for a taxi to Lucan in after he had left a Dublin city nightclub. He told the High Court he had 10 months later done the same journey by taxi for just over €20.