The Garda Síochána is at the centre of further damaging allegations of misconduct after the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday overturned a murder conviction amid allegations of heavy drinking and sexual misconduct involving gardaí and jury members, write Mary Carolan and Carl O'Brien
The court heard that two gardaí were drinking with some jurors in a hotel bar until about 2 a.m. and one garda, referred to as member X, allegedly went to the room of a woman juror who later complained that he sexually assaulted her. While finding the conduct of the members rendered the conviction of Mr Martin McDonagh unsatisfactory, Mr Justice Hardiman said it would be wrong to place the blame entirely on the gardaí in the absence of guidelines or proper instructions for jury keepers.
Member X has denied the allegations in a statement and no criminal proceedings have been taken. The allegations, however, are highly embarrassing for a force already facing allegations of misconduct relating to corruption in Co Donegal and the shooting dead of Mr John Carthy, a man suffering from depression, in Abbeylara, Co Longford. It is expected the Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, will seek a report into the events, although a spokesman for the Garda was unavailable last night.
The three-judge court quashed the conviction of Mr Martin McDonagh (31), formerly with an address at Hampstead, England, for the murder of Mr Patrick Ward after a funeral at Ballymote, Co Sligo, on May 10th 1999.
Mr McDonagh was convicted of murder at the Central Criminal Court in February 2002. The court directed there should be a retrial in the case. Mr McDonagh was remanded in custody pending the outcome of a bail application to be made shortly.
Mr Justice Hardiman said it appeared the gardaí had no proper instructions about keeping a jury. One had some years' experience doing so but had said he learned it "on the job". The judge said there was no attempt by either member to persuade the jury of any verdict. However, the court found it difficult to be confident the events had no effect.
A spokesman for the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said he would study the findings before commenting publicly. However, he said all gardaí received training relating to criminal justice issues, but was unable to say if this included jury training.
The president of the Garda Representative Association, Mr Michael Kirby, declined to comment on the case but agreed there should be more guidelines for gardaí when dealing with jury members.
The Labour Party justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, called on the Minister for Justice to take immediate steps to ensure gardaí are adequately trained.
See court report: page 4