O’Higgins report: McCabe’s allegations - Litany of failures led to devastating events

Sergeant Maurice McCabe’s complaints about Garda failures and malpractice centred on a number of key incidents of criminal investigations in the Cavan-Monaghan division, where injured parties were badly let down and where he felt his attempts to draw the attention of senior officers to the problems were not properly addressed.

Most shocking and serious of all was the case involving Gerard McGrath, who savagely assaulted a female taxi driver in what Judge O’Higgins described as a “terrifying” attack in Cavan in April 2007, only to be charged with minor assault against DPP instructions.

That ensured he got bail and set in train a chain of devastating events. Within months, he attempted to abduct a five-year-old girl from her home in the middle of the night in Tipperary, and, despite being caught red-handed, was released, and, weeks later, murdered mother of two, Sylvia Roche-Kelly, in Limerick.