Woman says she was branded 'female gouger' after gardaí discovered her relationship with officer

Sinead Warren at the High Court in Dublin on Thursday. Picture: Collins Courts

A "law-abiding citizen of impeccable character" has alleged at the High Court that she was falsely branded a "major criminal" and a "serious female gouger" after officers discovered she was in a relationship with a garda.

Sinead Warren alleges that following the execution of a search warrant at a Dublin address, messages circulated on Whatsapp that could only have originated from people involved in or close to the search. They suggested that her long-term partner, Garda Joseph Kavanagh, had been "caught in the scratcher" with her.

Ms Warren submits that the messages also suggested that Garda Kavanagh's career was ruined due to his relationship with her.

She alleges that he was dropped from a Special Crime Task Force that he had been selected to join, and suffered intimidation and harassment from his superiors in the force.

At the High Court on Thursday, Mr Justice Micheál O'Higgins heard from Mark Harty SC, for the plaintiff, Ms Warren, that his client was of impeccable character and had been in a relationship with Garda Kavanagh for years before the search warrant was executed on December 5, 2016.

The warrant had been issued for the investigation of a burglary in Dublin that did not involve Ms Warren or Garda Kavanagh but they were present at the address when three armed and three unarmed gardaí arrived.

Ms Warren took her case against the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice, Ireland, and the Attorney General seeking damages for interference and breach of her constitutional rights, negligence, breach of duty, misfeasance, and deceit.

It is submitted that in or around February 2013, Ms Warren entered into a relationship with Mr Kavanagh, who was later selected to become a member of the newly-formed Special Crime Task Force attached to the Garda National Drug and Organised Crime Bureau.

It is accepted by gardaí that Ms Warren is known as a person of "impeccable character" who had been Garda-vetted for her employment at a creche and has never been involved in criminality, nor does she associate with criminals.

It is submitted by lawyers for Ms Warren that the search of her home amounted to an interference in her personal life and her relationship with Garda Kavanagh.

The State denies the allegation of interference.

It is claimed by the plaintiff that senior gardaí "deemed the relationship between Garda Kavanagh and Ms Warren to have been inappropriate and set out to interfere by carrying out surveillance and by making enquiries to ascertain the nature and extent of the relationship".

This is also denied by the State.

It is further alleged that the gardaí who executed the warrant "were there for the sole or predominant purpose of ascertaining the whereabouts of Garda Kavanagh and they were present only to confirm his presence there", which is denied.

It is also alleged that Mr Kavanagh's presence was communicated to senior gardaí and that he was removed from his position as a member of the task force within hours of gardaí entering the apartment.

Ms Warren claims that thereafter Garda Kavanagh was "intimidated" and "harassed" by superiors in An Garda Síochána and that he was informed that he "needed time away from his position" in the unit.

This is also denied.

Mr Harty told the court that the warrant had been used to achieve an "unlawful objective".

Counsel further said that matters were then "greatly aggravated" by reason of the alleged leaking and dissemination of information concerning the plaintiff which led to the "irresistible inference" that the source of the leak was gardaí who attended the apartment or were closely privy to the search.

"Immediately subsequent to the search, messages on the WhatsApp platform were sent and were circulated," said counsel.

Mr Harty said that the messages said, or, in the alternative, implied the plaintiff to allegedly be "a major criminal" and that Ms Warren was a "serious female gouger" and that Garda Kavanagh was "caught in the scratcher with her".

Further, said Mr Harty, the messages either directly or indirectly claimed that Gda Kavanagh's career was ruined by reason of the relationship. 

"In these circumstances, a respected member of the community and a law-abiding citizen [Ms Warren] was disparaged, maligned, and was subjected to public ridicule and contempt", which is denied in full by the defendants.

The non-jury trial continues at the High Court before Mr Justice O'Connell.