Does a culture of cover-up still exist within the gardaí?
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has made it a point to embed ethics of a high standard in An Garda Síochána. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
In 2019, the DPP’s office closed a file involving an alleged assault by a garda sergeant on a man who was suspected of a crime.
The decision was not to prosecute; this was mainly based on the fact that the alleged victim, a member of the Travelling community, had declined to give a statement.
There was other evidence, including statements from fellow gardaí and CCTV footage, but the DPP decided that was not sufficient for a prosecution.
The victim of the alleged assault was, at the time of the incident, suspected of raping a woman who was also from the Travelling community. Ultimately, he was not prosecuted for that offence.
Some within the gardaí believe that the pursuit of a prosecution against this man for rape was fatally flawed by the alleged assault on him by the garda sergeant.
The has pieced together various strands of this story from interviews and documents.
What occurred raises a number of questions for garda management, including how crimes against women are dealt with, attitudes towards the Travelling community, and whether a culture of cover-up still persists in certain sections of the organisation.
It also gives rise to a question for the commissioner Drew Harris, who has made it a point to embed ethics of a high standard in An Garda Síochána: If members of the force do the right thing and report misconduct by a colleague or colleagues, can they genuinely expect that something will be done about it?
In 2016, Mr A, as we shall call him, was drinking in a Waterford pub. He is a Traveller suspected by gardaí of involvement in crime.
At some point, he left the pub accompanied by a woman, who has been described as a settled Traveller.
The woman was believed to have been intoxicated at the time. Mr A would later tell gardaí that they had consensual sex after they left the pub.
CCTV footage shows them leaving and returning. The woman appeared distressed when they returned and she did not go back inside the pub. Soon afterwards, she left in a taxi.
Later that evening she contacted the gardaí. She made a complaint, alleging she had been raped; she had injuries which she said she sustained during the sexual assault.
Following the incident, what was described as a “mini feud” developed between families of Mr A and the woman.
The gardaí let it be known that they wanted to speak to Mr A. Within a few days, gardaí got word soon after 7pm that members from the two feuding families were at a house.
When the gardaí arrived, Mr A was emerging from the house. He took off in his BMW car at speed. He was accompanied by his son. As he was leaving, his vehicle hit the arriving garda car.
According to one version this was an attempt to ram the garda car. Another version has it that he clipped the squad car while trying to escape from the house.
One way or the other, an alert went out and Mr A was traced to a service station. Three gardaí arrived at the forecourt, including the sergeant, Sgt B.
Within minutes another car with two community gardaí also arrived. One of the gardaí got out and approached the suspect and told him to get out of the car.
Sgt B also approached the car and, according to the other garda, “began kicking this male into his body while he was seated in the car”.
“(Sgt B) pulled this male from the car and threw him on the ground. The male was lying face down. I then observed (Sgt B) stamp on this male’s head twice with his feet and kick him into the face and stomach with his foot.”
Another garda’s statement also tracked the build-up to the incident with Mr A sitting in the car in the forecourt.
Then: “I observed (Sgt B) kick (Mr A) into the upper body as he was seated in the BMW. (Sgt B) removed (Mr A) from the vehicle, placing him on the ground and kicked him in the upper body.”
This statement went on to describe how, following that, Mr A was “resisting being arrested” by Sgt B and another garda.
This version stated that there was a struggle to subdue Mr A and one of the gardaí “subsequently deployed pepper spray in an attempt to subdue (Mr A)”.
Following this, Mr A was “restrained on the ground until the arrival of a patrol van”.
CCTV footage from the service station is also understood to have provided a very clear picture of what exactly occurred.
According to sources, Sgt B sustained an injury to his hand during the incident, allegedly as a result of punching Mr A.
Mr A was taken back to a garda station. He was later brought to hospital to have his injuries treated. It is unclear whether and which injuries were due to the incident in the service station and which were attributable to the earlier altercation in the house.
Crucially Mr A was not charged with the rape offence in which he was a suspect.
The understands he was not even arrested to be presented with the evidence against him and questioned under caution.
Among the male and female gardaí who witnessed the incident at the service station was one female member who has been on stress-related sick leave since it occurred.
Immediately, senior management were made aware of the incident.
Following some consultations, Sergeant B was given a choice; he would be suspended unless he agreed to a temporary transfer. He agreed to the transfer.
The matter was referred to GSOC under Section 85 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005. This is one of two sections under which a garda can be referred by the organisation directly to GSOC. The other is Section 102.
A complaint is referred to GSOC under Section 85 when the complaint is initially made to a member of the gardaí.
A Section 102 referral is made if the complaint “appears to the garda commissioner to indicate that the conduct of a member of the Garda Síochána may have resulted in the death of, or serious harm to, a person”.
It is unclear how much detail of the incident, including that provided by members of An Garda Síochána who were present, was made available to Commissioner Harris.
The understands that the complaint originated in the report from two of the gardaí who were present at the service station.
The details of the incident were relayed to line management locally and from there the Section 85 referral was made.
GSOC conducted an investigation using its own investigators. In some instances, GSOC has used senior gardaí to conduct investigations but in matters as serious as this, their own staff do the work.
Statements were taken from the gardaí and the CCTV footage obtained and analysed.
The investigators approached Mr A for a statement. According to some sources the investigators approached this man three times in repeated attempts to get him to co-operate with their investigation. Each time he refused.
In the end, a prosecution file was compiled without any victim statement, a crucial omission for any prospect of a successful conviction.
In circumstances where the criminal investigation of a garda concludes without either a charge or with a not guilty verdict in court, a disciplinary process is usually embarked on.
There have been legal challenges by gardaí about this process but nearly always it does proceed.
The standard of proof required for a ruling in a disciplinary process is “the balance of probabilities”, a much lower standard than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” needed for a criminal conviction.
There was no disciplinary action taken against Sgt B.
Once the DPP’s office made known its decision, the sergeant’s solicitor wrote to garda management demanding his reinstatement in the station to which he was attached at the time of the incident.
He then made a retrospective expenses claim during which he was temporarily transferred.
The understands he is now on a panel for promotion to the rank of inspector.
A spokesperson for GSOC said the commission does not comment on individual cases.
Questions submitted to the garda press office about policy in relation to suspension when a member is under criminal investigation, and discipline in the aftermath of a criminal investigation had not received any answers at the time of going to print.
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