Jury shown struck-out traffic summonses in trial of five gardaí

David Raleigh

Summonses for alleged speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt and driving without insurance, which were marked “struck out” or “withdrawn”, were shown to a jury in the trial of four gardaí and a retired superintendent, on Thursday.

The five accused have pleaded not guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to a total of 39 counts of “engaging in conduct tending or intended to pervert the course of justice”.

The charges relate to the five accused allegedly unlawfully interfering in road traffic prosecutions.

The jury was shown copies of twenty court summonses that had been struck out or withdrawn from various Limerick District Court proceedings on different dates.

Siobhán O'Connor, head of the Court Services Office, Limerick, gave evidence that shorthand notes written by judges on the summonses, such as, 'S/O’ meant the summons was “struck out”.

She explained that the short-hand ‘WD’ meant the summons was “withdrawn”, and ‘ST’ meant the application for striking out the case or withdrawing the case was made by a prosecuting sergeant acting on behalf of the State.

The five accused are retired Garda Superintendent Eamon O'Neill, as well as Sergeant Anne Marie Hassett; Sergeant Michelle Leahy; Garda Colm Geary and Garda Tom McGlinchey, of the Limerick and Clare Garda Divisions.

Ms O’Connor, under cross examination from senior counsel Felix McEnroy, acting for Eamon O’Neill, agreed that District Court judges can make a wide number of orders, including withdrawing, striking out, or dismissing a prosecution.

The witness agreed with counsel that there “is only one decision maker in the district court and that is the judge”.

When asked if she had been aware of any issue with any of the twenty summonses after they had been dismissed, Ms O’Connor replied: "No, I’m not aware.”

The witness agreed that there was nothing unusual about a summons being struck out, in certain circumstances, in general situations, including, for example, if a motorist had not had their driving licence on them when stopped by a garda and subsequently produced the licence at a garda station within a required timeframe.

The trial centres around alleged approaches by members of the public to gardaí in respect of fixed charge penalty notices (FCPNs) relating to potential or pending road traffic prosecutions.

The five accused were charged before Limerick District Court on May 14th, 2021, following an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI).

The trial has heard that gardaí in senior ranks have the power to legitimately cancel FCPNs in certain circumstances.

It was also heard that GNBCI detectives raided a number of Garda stations and homes in Limerick, Clare and Cork, and seized mobile phones, as part of the probe.

A GNBCI officer told the court that a number of private citizens had been suspected of attempting to pervert the course of justice, but that none of these people had ever been charged with an offence arising out of the investigation.

The GNBCI probe involves at least 10 detective sergeants supported by other colleagues, it was heard.

The probe was led by GNBCI Detective Chief Superintendent Walter O’Sullivan, now retired, who appointed Detective Inspector Mick McNulty, GNBCI, as the senior investigating officer.

The two senior ranking Gardaí made all of the key operational decisions in the probe, the court heard.

Det Sgt Robert Madden, GNBCI, said he and his colleagues in the investigation team had been furnished with briefing documents to familiarise themselves with the complexities and nuances of FCPNs, which he agreed he had known very little about prior to the investigation.

The briefing documents explained what a fixed charge penalty notice was, how FCPNs are processed, and what guidelines and exemptions are legitimately used by gardaí for cancelling FCPNs.

The trial before a jury of eight men and four women continues next Tuesday.