Civil servant awarded €9k for trespass

A garda, who entered a low-rise block of flats after seeing a partly-open window, had committed “a significant trespass” into a one-room studio where a man and his partner were asleep in bed, a judge ruled yesterday.

Judge Francis Comerford, in the Circuit Civil Court, said the open window was a temptation to Garda Kevin Lawless but he had no idea who was in the flat for which the gardaí had no search warrant. He said there was a warrant to enter other apartments in the building.

Barrister John Ferry had earlier told the court that Department of Justice civil servant Gerard Forbes had been wakened by a torch shining in his face and heard raised voices from the window used to gain entry.