Jury retires to consider case of gardaí accused of assault

The jury in the trial of four gardaí accused of locking a woman in a bathroom as her teenage son was allegedly assaulted in bed has retired to consider its verdict this afternoon.

Alan Conlon, Claire Delaney, Eoin Murtagh and Sean O’Leary are charged with assault causing harm to Owen Gaffney, forcible entry and trespass at the family home in inner city Dublin on February 17, 2008.

Conlon, Delaney and Murtagh are also charged with the false imprisonment of Fidelma Gaffney in a bathroom of her Basin Street flat.

They have pleaded not guilty to each of the charges.

The four-week trial is being heard by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The prosecution says Ms Gaffney was held in the bathroom against her will for five minutes while her then 18-year-old son was kicked and beaten with batons as he lay in bed.

Barristers for the gardaí claim the co-accused were acting in self defence and used reasonable force when they held Ms Gaffney, who admitted to being hysterical, in the bathroom.

The jury of six men and six women heard the gardaí went to the property to arrest Mr Gaffney after he was involved in a tussle with one of the officers the night before.

Their lawyers said Mr Gaffney had a history of resisting arrest and had previously broken a garda’s jaw. They argue that evidence given by the mother and son cannot be believed.

The investigation was carried out by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.