A judge has reserved his decision in the case of a Garda sergeant charged with assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice over an allegation that he instructed a probation officer to amend a Garda record regarding an incident involving a prisoner.
Judge John O’Leary said that the charges of simple assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice against Sgt William Doyle (52) of Waterford Garda station were too serious to give an immediate decision after hearing two days of evidence and receiving various submissions.
On Friday, the accused, Sgt Doyle, strongly rejected an allegation that he had assaulted a prisoner in his 20s in Waterford Garda station on March 9th, 2022, after the man had been arrested on suspicion of committing an assault at about 6am that day that left another man in hospital.
Garda Rachel Pratt had testified at the earlier hearing at Waterford District Court that she was the member in charge on the day in question when the suspect in the assault became very aggressive after he was brought into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) room at about 11am.
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Garda Pratt told prosecution barrister David Perry BL she had been in the public office when she heard “commotion and shouting” coming from the AFIS room, and when she went to investigate, she saw two gardaí in the corridor outside the AFIS room door, which was ajar.
She said when she opened the door, she saw Sgt Doyle standing over the suspect, who was sitting in a chair. “Sgt Doyle had him pinned against the window – he was using his forearm pressed between his neck and chest area,” she said.
Sgt Doyle strongly rejected the suggestion that he had put his forearm on the man’s neck, stating that he was in his office across from the AFIS room when he saw that the suspect was becoming aggressive, and therefore went over to try to calm him down.
Two other officers, Det Garda Darren Colfer and Garda Sean Lane, who were with the suspect, testified at the earlier hearing that the man was highly aggressive and abusive, and that when Sgt Doyle entered the AFIS room to get him to calm down, he had also become abusive to Sgt Doyle.
Garda Lane said that after a minute or so, Sgt Doyle said to them, “Give me two seconds there, lads” which they interpreted as him wanting them to leave the room and, as he was their superior officer, they both exited the room into the corridor.
Garda Lane said the door was left “slightly open” and they heard “a commotion” in the room involving some pushing, “hitting off the chair, hitting off the printer, wardrobe – you could hear something was happening in there” and the man later alleged he was assaulted by Sgt Doyle.
However, Sgt Doyle told the hearing that when he asked the two officers to “give me two secs there, lads”, he was simply asking them to move aside to let him in past them into the small room, and he was not asking them to leave him alone in the room with the suspect.
He told his barrister David Staunton BL that the suspect was continuing to be aggressive despite having asked him to be quiet and respectful to other people in the station, so he put his forearm across the man’s chest to force him back into the chair after the man reached up and pulled off his tie, which fell to the floor.
He also denied punching the man in the chest in the custody area, and said what Garda Pratt had seen him doing was putting his open palm on to the man’s sternum and pushing back, in line with Garda training to put a safe space between them, as he feared the man was about to assault him.
He also denied that he instructed Garda Pratt not to “mention what happened in the AFIS room” when she went into his office to ask him what she should fill into the custody register at 11.05am. Garda Pratt had told Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) investigators that she “didn’t feel right doing it, but I did it”.
However, Sgt Doyle told Friday’s hearing that Garda Pratt was incorrect. “I said ‘Rachel, you have to put it in the custody record – I had to defend myself’; she asked me what she should write in the register, and I said, ‘I can’t put words in your mouth, but the matter needs to be recorded’.”
Judge O’Leary adjourned the matter until July 5th at Waterford District Court for a decision.
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