Mother heard 'thumping', gardaí assault trial hears

The mother of a young man accusing four gardaí of assault has said she heard “thumping” coming from her son’s bedroom while she was being kept in the bathroom.

Ms Fidelma Gaffney said she was gabbed by the throat and arm and forced into the bathroom for about five minutes after she had seen two uniformed gardaí beat her son as he lay in bed.

Gardai Sean O’Leary, Eoin Murtagh, Alan Conlon and Claire Delaney have pleaded not guilty to forcing entry to a premises at Basin Street Upper, entering as a trespasser and assaulting Mr Owen Gaffney causing him harm on February 17, 2008.

Gda Murtagh, Gda Conlon and Gda Delaney also pleaded not guilty to the false imprisonment of Ms Gaffney on the same occasion.

Ms Gaffney told Mr Patrick McGrath BL, prosecuting, that Gda O’Leary lifted up her son’s duvet and hit the then 18-year-old with a “baton across the face” before another garda kicked him in the face.

She said she had received a phone call from her son’s friend and had answered the door to gardaí about the same time.

She said Gda O’Leary was outside with a “good few” other gardaí and asked to see her son.

She said she asked to see a warrant and was shown a piece of paper briefly by one garda as they walked past her into her home.

She told Mr McGrath (with Mr Tom O’Connell SC) that one garda had confirmed they had a warrant before this paper was waved in front of her.

Ms Gaffney said she followed at least four gardaí as they went upstairs and into her son’s bedroom.

She told Mr McGrath that the female garda, whom she described as young and with blonde hair, stood in the bedroom doorway as Gda O’Leary began to beat her son.

She said the female garda “was just standing at the door” as Gda O’Leary and another male officer beat Mr Gaffney.

Ms Gaffney told Mr McGrath that she became hysterical and can’t recall what she shouted at the time, but nothing was said in reply.

She said someone grabbed her by the throat and arm and forced her into the bathroom, where she pulled at the door to get out.

She said the door opened once but she couldn’t see who was holding it shut and that she heard thumping and scuffling noises coming from Mr Gaffney’s room.

Ms Gaffney said she saw Gda O’Leary standing over her son, who was seated on a couch in his bedroom, when she opened the bathroom door as all other gardaí were leaving the premises.

She said she didn’t hear Gda O’Leary say anything but he pushed her out of the way when she ran at him as he went to leave.

Ms Gaffney said she bought a disposable camera, which she was shown in court, in a nearby Spar shop and took pictures of her son before his father arrived and took him to hospital.

She said she went to Kilmainham Garda Station and spoke with a female garda there about what the four accused had allegedly done at her home.

She told Mr McGrath that she would never have let any garda into her home without a warrant.

Earlier, Mr Gaffney told defence counsel for Gda Conlon, that he couldn’t recall threatening his client during an alleged public order incident in the stairwell of a neighbouring flat complex on February 16, 2008.

He denied he threatened to bite off Gda Conlon’s nose because he would have been arrested and charged had he done so.

He said he couldn’t recall his mother telling him gardaí had called to his home looking for him that evening.

He denied he was the aggressor in the incident on February 17, that he was out of control and that Gda Conlon sought to assist his colleagues restraining him.

He told Mr O’Connell in re-examination that he was never charged or arrested for an alleged incident on February 16 or for the incident the following day on February 17, 2008.

The trial continues before Judge Desmond Hogan and a jury of six men and six women.