A Garda sergeant and her former colleague who were convicted in connection with an assault on a Waterford man more than two years ago have failed in their attempts to have their convictions overturned on appeal.
In August last year Sgt Martha McEnery (43) received a four-month suspended sentence after a Waterford Circuit Criminal Court jury convicted her of assaulting Anthony Holness (39) at New Street in Waterford on January 29th, 2010. John Burke (40) was jailed for 12 months after he was found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice by moving a Garda CCTV camera away from the assault scene. He is no longer a member of the force.
The Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday dismissed both of the appeals, having found that no “legitimate grounds for criticism” had been made out.
Presiding judge Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said this was a “very elaborate case” which had been fought on “every conceivable basis”. He said the conduct of trial judge Leonie Reynolds had been admirable in “very difficult” circumstances where she was faced with having to make rulings which may have had “incalculable consequences” down the line. Despite this, he said that Judge Reynolds had ensured a fair trial for all of the defendants and had charged the jury in an “impeccable” manner.