GP Tony Margiotta sues gardaí for malicious prosecution after fraud trial collapsed

Dr Tony Margiotta, from Hollystown, Dublin 15, leaving court after the case. Pcture: Collins Courts

A GP who was prosecuted for fraud, but whose trial collapsed, is taking legal action against An Garda Síochána for malicious prosecution.

Tony Margiotta was accused of issuing fraudulent sick notes to his sister Lynn, who was a civilian employee of An Garda Síochána.

Lynn Margiotta was arrested at her home in Navan in July 2014 by colleagues from Store Street Garda Station in Dublin in connection with an investigation into obtaining sick notes on a fraudulent basis.

She had been absent from work on a number of occasions over the previous six months, following the unexpected death of her mother.

Two weeks before her arrest, Ms Margiotta had made a workplace complaint of bullying against a garda sergeant.

The following year, she was arrested for a second time.

According to documents seen by the Irish Examiner, no new evidence was presented to her during this second arrest.

She was shown various doctors’ certs, or sick notes, which were all available to the gardaí prior to her first arrest.

Following a lengthy investigation, the siblings were charged in 2017 with seven counts of issuing a medical document as a “false instrument”.

The case went to trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in March 2019.

The trial collapsed within days when the presiding judge ruled that Ms Margiotta’s rights had been breached by the gardaí.

During early evidence at the trial, a Garda Superintendent accepted that Ms Margiotta had been ill for the times that she had submitted sick notes but, he told the court, the case was over how those notes were obtained.

Tony Margiotta, as a GP, was fully qualified to issue such notes.

He was working as a locum GP at the time and had used the stamp of the resident GP who was absent.

Ms Margiotta took legal action against An Garda Síochána at the time, and that action is ongoing. Now her brother has issued his own proceedings through solicitor Kevin Winters.

After the criminal trial collapsed, the Medical Council began a process to determine whether Tony Margiotta should face a fitness-to-practice hearing.

The council had been contacted by the gardaí about the investigation into Dr Margiotta, and further contact was made in the wake of the aborted criminal trial.

The Medical Council process has now been in train for nearly six years, and it is 11 years since the brother and sister were first interviewed by gardaí.

The bullying complaint that Lynn Margiotta submitted just prior to her arrest was never advanced. She was never asked about it thereafter, once the criminal investigation began.

The Irish Examiner understands she was not contacted in any form about the matter, as would have been standard procedure in dealing with any industrial relations matter.

Lynn Margiotta has since resigned from An Garda Síochána.

Tony Margiotta, who had been working as a locum GP at the time, is now employed in a public health role.

When contacted, Dr Margiotta said he was not in a position to comment on any aspect of the case.