LAST UPDATE | 35 mins ago

Niall O'Connor Reporting from Limerick

A RETIRED GARDA superintendent cleared of perverting the course of justice along with four serving gardaí in Limerick today has struck out at An Garda Síochána’s handling of the case. 

A jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court this afternoon found four serving gardaí and a retired Superintendent not guilty of perverting the court of justice after an eight week trial.

The case centres around the terminating of road traffic tickets after requests by members of the public to gardaí to not issue fines.

It comes following an investigation by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) into the practice of stopping tickets for speeding, mobile phones and other offences from being issued.

The gardaí were all based in the mid-west, particularly in Limerick garda division.

Those who faced trial are: retired Garda Superintendent Eamon O’Neill, who served across the division but was the lead officer in Newcastlewest; Limerick based Sgt Michelle Leahy; Sgt Anne-Marie Hassett, who formerly served in Limerick city; Garda Tom McGlinchey, Murroe Garda Station; and Garda Colm Geary, Clare Garda Division. All pleaded not guilty.

The five were charged with perverting the course of public justice in relation to the cancelling of fixed charge penalty notice. Leahy is accused of the offence in connection to striking out a summons while in court.

The jury began deliberations just after 2pm last Friday and after five hours of discussions in the jury room they returned not guilty on all 39 counts. 

The defendants all began weeping and there were cheers in the packed courtroom. Eleven members of NBCI left immediately as onlookers in court moved forward to embrace the five accused.

Outside the court Eamon O’Neill launched a stinging rebuke of the investigation and An Garda Síochána.

He said that he had “mixed emotions” but said that after the eight week trial during which he suffered immense mental pressure, that he was relieved with the verdict. 

“It’s an organisation that when you give everything you can for it, but if they decide that you fall, you fall heavy and they come after you, they don’t have you, they don’t offer you any backup medical advice,” he said. 

O’Neill said he was treated b yAn Garda Síochána as an “outcast and leper” since he was accused of wrongdoing by NBCI.

 ”There are young people in the guards now and any time I meet them they can’t wait to get out. Why is that?

“Why is somebody looking at that, that has nothing got to do with the guards on the ground, there are very hardworking guards on the ground. 

“I don’t know what’s going on in that force, but I can tell you there was a decision made back a number of years ago that this force was corrupt and they went about allegedly weeding bad eggs out and unfortunately I was a bad egg in all their eyes, shame on them,” he said. 

Case details

The case entirely spins around the garda use of discretion, a Common Law power, which permits gardaí to decide against prosecuting minor offences. 

The case was about drivers who were stopped driving and had committed an offence such as no insurance, on a mobile phone or speeding by various gardaí based in Limerick. 

There were text messages exchanged between the drivers, which included well known GAA figures in Limerick and a sitting County Councillor, asking that the tickets not be issued. 

During the trial evidence was given that the practice of leaving off motorists by gardaí was known in An Garda Síochána slang as “squaring”.  

The prosecution, led by Senior Counsel Carl Hanahoe, said that the issue for the State was that motorists contacted Eamon O’Neill seeking advice and he forwarded the requests to McGlinchey, Hassett and Geary, who in turn contacted the various gardaí in each case.

The State alleged that Michelle Leahy was a court prosecutor in a district court in Limerick and had withdrawn two summonses having been contacted. 

The investigation, the court heard, was as part of a broader investigation in Limerick by the NBCI. The origins of that cannot be outlined here for legal reasons. 

Eamon O’Neill was originally interviewed for disclosing information to another person who is not before the court.

He was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing there by the Director of Public Prosecutions. But the contents of his phone was still examined by the NBCI analysts and on that they found text messages about traffic offences between members of the public and other gardaí which led to this case. 

That prompted the NBCI to execute a warrant on O’Neill’s home he shared with his partner Anne Marie Hassett. 

The other gardaí involved were then identified through those enquiries. 

There was no evidence given in the case to suggest any benefit, financial or otherwise, for any of the accused gardaí.

Reaction

Dan O’Gorman, solicitor for O’Neill, said afterwards that he would support calls for a public enquiry.

“So many lives ruined for years and years. Eamon O’Neill and the other Defendants have been fully acquitted. Their families have been devastated.

“The State with all its power came after Eamon O’Neill and the other Defendants. The State said yes and the people have said no. The people speak and the State must and will listen. We are the people.

“The newly minted Commissioner, the Minister and the State must take steps immediately to restore the people’s confidence in the State. There are immediate steps that he can take now and if Commissioner Justin Kelly doesn’t know what they are, he can call me,” he added. 

Frank Thornton, the Limerick Divisional head of the The Garda Representative Association (GRA), said the verdict followed seven “challenging, frustrating and turbulent years and we are relieved with the decision of the jury”.

Thornton said that there were more than 130 gardaí who were targeted by the NBCI during the investigation. 

“These members have endured personal anguish and trauma which is immeasurable and faced what I believe was a gross injustice. I now hope and pray along with my colleagues in Limerick and nationwide that they can now start their road to recovery and return to their roles in our communities which they served with distinction,” he said. 

Mark O’Meara, President of the GRA, said the association was “disappointed and saddened” by the treatment of its members over the last seven years.

He lashed out at lengthy suspensions of members and added that their “careers and livelihoods have been decimated and lie in tatters”.

“Once again this highlights the serious concerns our association has with the sledgehammer use of suspension by An Garda Síochána and how it is used to the detriment of our members careers.

“These members were simply following instructions and utilising their discretion but have had their lawful decisions in those matters used against them to justify some form of a witch hunt within the Organisation,” he added.