A DERRY man had three charges of assaulting police officers dismissed after a three-day trial.
Gary Donnelly (39), of Kildrum Gardens, in the Creggan area, was charged with assaulting the police officers on August 10th, 2006 as he was being brought to court.
Earlier in the trial the court heard from police officers how Mr Donnelly had stepped out of the police van and then went rigid and had to be forcibly moved. One officer said that Mr Donnelly ended up on the ground.
It was claimed that Mr Donnelly had shouldered an officer into railings beside the court and that he had kicked two other officers as he struggled while being brought to the cells.
However, under cross-examination by Eoghan Devlin (instructed by MacDermott and McGurk) a Constable Doherty accepted that his evidence was different from his statement and his notebook.
Constable Hamilton, who claimed to have been pushed into the railings, denied that he had discussed any aspect of his evidence with the other officers except to check times and was asked how it was that both his and Constable Mr Doherty’s statements had a line that was exactly the same.
A Constable Mullins claimed to have seen Mr Donnelly lying on the ground on his stomach, but when it was pointed out that this was not in his notebook, he said then that Mr Donnelly had not been on the ground at all.
At the end of the Crown case, Mr Devlin asked the judge to direct there was no case to answer, pointing out that there were 16 or 17 inconsistencies in the evidence of the police.
Judge Mervyn Bates refused the application.
Mr Donnelly then gave evidence and denied that any assaults took place.
He said he turned to acknowledge his father when he was “wrestled to ground” by four police officers.
He said that one officer had said “let’s give Donnelly a kicking”, but he added that he believed that was to annoy him and not a serious threat.
A journalist, Irish Newsreporter Séamus McKinney, gave evidence of covering the court that day and said he saw Mr Donnelly turning to acknowledge the crowd and being "bundled" to the ground. He said he did not see Constable Hamilton being shoved into the railings.
In summing up the case, Judge Bates said public order incidents like this were difficult to police.
He said that the only medical evidence was a graze on Constable Hamilton’s arm, but he added the officer had said he was wearing a boiler suit at the time he was pushed, while the doctor said he had been wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
The judge also said he was impressed by the evidence of Mr McKinney who was there to do a professional job.
He dismissed the charges, saying he could not be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt.