Retired Garda sergeant subjected to  'horrendous cycle of intimidation and bullying', tribunal told

William Hughes was assigned to the community policing unit out of Swords Garda Station at the time Baiba Saulite was murdered at her home in Swords on  November 19, 2006.

A retired Garda sergeant has alleged he was subjected to a “horrendous cycle of intimidation, bullying and harassment at the hand of Garda management” for highlighting what he called a “systems failure” in its investigations prior to the murder of a mother-of-two in Dublin in 2006.

The Disclosures Tribunal is hearing the opening statement regarding the case of retired Garda sergeant William Hughes at Dublin Castle on Tuesday afternoon.

Mr Hughes was assigned to the community policing unit out of Swords Garda Station at the time Baiba Saulite was murdered at her home in Swords on  November 19, 2006.

Mr Hughes and a colleague, Garda Declan Nyhan, had carried out a detailed investigation between 2004 and 2006 into the abduction of Ms Saulite’s two children from the State.

Much of the tribunal’s earlier work focused on the case of the alleged smear campaign against former Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

Protected disclosures

This separate module of the tribunal is focusing on protected disclosures made by gardaí who say they were subsequently targeted or discredited with the knowledge of senior gardaí because of this disclosure.

The tribunal’s opening statement outlining the matters at hand was read by Sinead McGrath BL.

Just five days before her murder, Ms Saulite gave then-Sgt Hughes a draft of a victim impact report for the sentencing hearing of her partner, who had pleaded guilty to abducting the children. This victim impact statement outlined that Ms Saulite was “very scared” for her life.

Mr Hughes made a number of allegations in respect of the investigation of the murder of Baiba Saulite and the ancillary investigations prior to her murder.

He referred to an arson attempt at the home of her solicitor John Hennessy, an arson attempt on Ms Saulite’s car outside her home and intelligence indicating a threat to Mr Hennessy’s life during 2006.

Mr Hughes told tribunal investigators: “I began making allegations about a ‘systems failure’, in respect of all investigations related to the murder, including the child abduction case, in which I was involved… 

“What I was saying was that numerous related crimes, including the child abduction case and threats to Baiba Saulite and her solicitor John Hennessy which occurred in 2006, were not properly correlated and co-ordinated.” 

Mr Hughes began to raise the issues he felt were apparent in the investigation on a number of occasions in 2006 and 2007.

Mr Hughes also made a report to the Confidential Recipient for An Garda Síochána in September 2008, again outlining serious allegations of a cover-up of a systems failure and allegations of targeting for raising the issues, the tribunal heard.

In his report to the Confidential Recipient, he outlined alleged failures which included that “at no stage of the murder investigation was there any attempt at coordinating the information obtained by gardaí who had been investigating the abduction case”.

He also alleged that there was “an attempt by Garda management to suppress the facts in this case and to cover up a systems failure in the manner in which the case has been dealt with”.

A subsequent Garda investigation into these claims were the subject of a report dated April 10, 2010. It found that “all the various allegations in relation to the confidential report are without foundation”.

Sick leave

Mr Hughes reported sick and unfit for duty in May 2007 and remained on sick leave until December 2009. He again reported sick and unfit for duty on  January 4, 2011, and retired from An Garda Síochána on medical grounds in February 2013.

The tribunal heard there were a number of issues it must now address in relation to the claims made by former Garda sergeant William Hughes.

They include if specific senior gardaí attempted to target or discredit Mr Hughes over protected disclosures he had made. This included whether this occurred through the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against him in June 2007.

Mr Hughes told the tribunal he “believed that the service of the disciplinary papers was done to shut me up and keep me quiet, to clip my wings”. A Garda report in 2009 found there was no breach in discipline and recommended no further proceedings.

The tribunal will also consider if the Garda commissioner targeted or discredited Mr Hughes because he made a protected disclosure by failing to refer the Confidential Recipient file detailing his complaints to the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Attorney General.

Giving evidence to the Tribunal this afternoon, Mr Hughes said he was shocked and upset when he heard about the death of Ms Saulite, and it was outlined how he believed “things had gone terribly wrong” and that it “shouldn’t have happened”.

He agreed with Tribunal counsel, Patrick Marrinan SC, that different strands relating to incidents such as the arson attack on Ms Saulite’s car should have been collated together prior to her murder.

Mr Hughes was also questioned about his investigation into the case of the abduction of Ms Saulite’s children and outlined a meeting with Ms Saulite five days before she was killed where she gave her victim impact statement.

He will continue giving evidence to the Tribunal tomorrow morning.