Prison officer's trial collapses due to lack of evidence

A judge has directed the acquittal of a prison officer accused of making a false needle-stick allegation in Mountjoy Prison.

Judge Patricia Ryan directed the jury to acquit Robert O’Neill (aged 44) after a defence application to withdraw the case because there was no evidence to prove the accused had made a false allegation.

Mr Sean Gillane SC, defending, submitted to Judge Ryan in the absence of the jury that the prosecution had produced no evidence to suggest his client was guilty and that its case was relying on speculation and conjecture.

He submitted that a prosecution witness had agreed under cross-examination that a needle may have been on the palm reading device when he used it minutes before Mr O’Neill.

Prison officer, Mr Alan Maher, had said in evidence that he noticed “nothing untoward” when he placed his palm inside the device but agreed with Mr Gillane that it could have been there.

Mr O’Neill, of North Circular Road, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to making a false allegation on May 5, 2006 that his hand was pricked by a syringe left on the palm reader at Mountjoy Prison the previous day.

Judge Ryan accepted Mr Gillane’s application to direct an acquittal stating that she would be asking the jury to speculate if the case went before it.

She discharged the seven women and five men of the jury and thanked them for completing their civic duty.