'Playful' protestors rocked garda car, court hears

A multimedia student who made a documentary of the Mayday 2002 "Reclaim the Streets" demonstration has told a jury he thought protesters believed they were being playful when they surrounded and rocked a garda car.

Mr Conor Henfey, whose video footage is being used in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial of Garda Paul Daly and Garda Fergus Hogan, said he saw an unmarked garda car drive into the middle of the crowd of protesters at Burgh Quay.

The DCU student said they sat down in front of the car and some surrounded it but Mr Henfey claimed there was nothing confrontational in their actions.

Gda Daly and Gda Hogan, who are both attached to Pearse Street Garda Station, have pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Emmet Bunting on May 6, 2002.

Sergeant Mark Kelly, also of Pearse Street Garda Station, told Mr Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, that he drove Gda Hogan to hospital that evening for treatment for a hand injury.

He denied a suggestion by Mr O’Connell that earlier he had driven his patrol car into the crowd on Burgh Quay. He said he had driven around a few people but stopped the car when the crowd got too thick and this was when his car was surrounded.

Sgt Kelly agreed with Mr Gerard Clarke SC (with Mr Breffni Gordon BL) defending, that he did believe the protesters were intending to overturn the car and he called for backup.

Mr Bunting, who has told the jury he was punched and kicked by gardaí on Trinity Street, denied a suggestion in cross-examination, by Mr Clarke that he had not in fact been assaulted.

He agreed with counsel that he had not told his girlfriend of the assault after he met her on Exchequer Street nor did he tell another friend he met with shortly after the incident.

Mr Bunting said he did not mention the beating to his girlfriend as he did not want to upset her and admitted he is proceeding with a civil case for the injuries he sustained on the day.

When asked by Mr Clarke, why he had he not mentioned this first assault to any of his friends on the day if it was serious enough to pursue a civil case, he said he was not sure if he was claiming for damages on the first assault.

"No I think my claim is only in relation to the injuries I sustained in the second assault on Parliament Street. I did not receive any injuries from the first assault."

Mr Bunting said he did see a garda coming towards him at the junction of Parliament Street with Dame Street but he did not anticipate the blow, because if he had, he would have made an effort to protect himself.

Mr Clarke referred Mr Bunting to the first of his two statements made to gardaí where he said he got a baton blow to the face when he approached a garda to request to be allowed to follow his girlfriend up Dame Street.

Witness agreed that he had first thought he had been hit with a baton because of the severity of his injuries but when he saw video footage later at the garda station he realised he had in fact been punched in the face.

He said that he could see from the video that while he was on the ground a garda brought a baton down on him with excessive force.

Mr Bunting agreed with counsel, after viewing video footage, that a garda appeared to help him to his feet at the junction of Parliament Street and Dame Street, but he did not agree that the video showed him falling on his face and did not accept counsel’s suggestion that this was how he sustained the injuries to his face.

"I would certainly dispute that. The video shows me falling on my back, as my face is turned upwards."

The trial continues before Judge Yvonne Murphy and a jury of seven men and five women.