Trial of Limerick man accused of corruption by giving money to garda in exchange for tip-off collapses

Judge ruled jury should be discharged after defence made legal application to call a 'previously unknown but potentially highly relevant' witness

Stephen O'Sullivan, 43, was on trial accused of giving or agreeing to give to Detective Garda David Bourke €20,000 as an inducement to reveal confidential information concerning an investigation being carried out by the Criminal Assets Bureau in relation to Stephen Bawn Motors.

The trial of a Limerick engineer accused of corruption by giving money to a detective garda in exchange for a tip-off about a raid on his car dealership has collapsed.

Stephen O'Sullivan, 43, was on trial accused of giving or agreeing to give to Detective Garda David Bourke €20,000 as an inducement to reveal confidential information concerning an investigation being carried out by the Criminal Assets Bureau in relation to Stephen Bawn Motors.

Mr O'Sullivan, of Farrehy, Broadford, Co Limerick, is a director of the business. He had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the single count of corruption at Bruree, Co Limerick, on December 22, 2018.

The jury began deliberations on Friday, but on Monday the defence made a legal application in the absence of the jury to call a “previously unknown but potentially highly relevant” witness.

After hearing evidence and legal submissions, from which the press were excluded, Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin ruled on Monday afternoon the jury should be discharged.

In her ruling, made in open court, the judge noted the defence had made an application to call a new witness, whose evidence they say is potentially highly relevant and who the prosecution was aware of. 

Defence counsel said if they had been aware of the evidence of this witness, they would have put it to some of the garda witnesses, the judge said.

She noted some documents relating to the witness were the subject of a disclosure application, but those documents did not disclose sufficient details. She noted the prosecution had conceded the new witness was highly relevant and was seeking to discharge the jury and get a retrial.

Judge Ní Chúlacháin said the trial judge had jurisdiction to allow evidence at any point in the trial. But she said the evidence proposed did “appear to be an entirely new strand of evidence” relating to events that “occurred many years prior to the events in this case”.

She said the defence “must have an opportunity to put this evidence before the court”. She said the court “was not satisfied” that allowing the jury to continue deliberating in the absence of this evidence “would do justice to anyone”.

On Tuesday morning, Judge Ní Chúlacháin told the jury an issue arose at the weekend which was going to take more time than available to resolve. She said the matter needed to be investigated. She said some of the matters were “very sensitive” and she could not tell jurors “what happened”.

She apologised to jurors and thanked them for their service in carrying out a vital public role. She listed the case for mention on February 20 next to fix a trial date.

During the trial, the jury heard audio of a covert recording of a conversation during which the defendant gives €20,000 to Det Garda Bourke and asks him questions about ongoing Garda investigations into his business.

The jury also heard evidence of Garda interviews during which the defendant told investigators senior gardaí were involved in extorting money from him.

He alleged Limerick gardaí Det Garda Bourke and Superintendent Eamonn O'Neill appeared at his car yard a number of times and he felt harassed and became concerned for his own safety and the safety of his family.