This was a bad case of the corrupt acceptance of money by a garda, an appeal court judge said yesterday.
The now ex-garda, who accepted a £500 bribe to drop a drink-driving charge against a man he arrested, was jailed for six months by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
The ex-garda was given a three-year suspended sentence and fined €3,809 by the Circuit Criminal Court last November. However, that was appealed by the Director of Public Prosecutions on the ground it was unduly lenient. Séamus Doherty, a married father-of-two children, will start his prison sentence in June.
Granting the DPP's appeal against the leniency of sentence yesterday, Mr Justice Hardiman, presiding, said the suspension of Doherty's sentence was an inadequate response to an offence of premeditated corruption by a garda.
Sitting with Mr Justice Quirke and Mr Justice de Valera, Mr Justice Hardiman said a garda possessed great powers over the lives of others and was also privy to confidential information.
As a result of this special position, gardaí must be above suspicion or reproach. If gardaí acted corruptly, they perverted their function and also left themselves open to blackmail and other pressures.
This was a bad case of the corrupt acceptance of money by a garda, the judge added. The amount of money received was not central to the present application; Doherty had taken as much as he could get and would have taken more if he could. He had apparently asked for a sum 40 times greater than he had received.
A fondness for drink and gambling did not amount to significant mitigation.
Dublin Circuit Court was told Doherty had originally asked for £20,000 from the man not to prosecute him for the drink-driving offence. The man was completely taken aback and Doherty settled for £500.
The man had talked over the matter with his wife and agreed to report it to gardaí. It was arranged he would meet Doherty in the car-park of a pub in Terenure, to pass over the money. When the man handed the envelope containing £500 to Doherty, he was arrested.
At the Circuit Court in December 2000, Doherty (41), Castlefield Lawns, Churchtown, Dublin, pleaded guilty to corruption. It was stated in the Circuit Court that he had a gambling and alcohol problem. He had pleaded guilty and co-operated with the investigation.
A garda superintendent gave evidence that Doherty stopped a car driven by the man at Walkinstown Road early on May 14th, 2000. He conveyed the man to Tallaght station and processed him for the alleged offence.
He provided a specimen and was found to be over the legal driving limit.
Doherty had joined the gardaí in 1987 and at the time of his arrest was working in the traffic unit of Terenure station. He lost his employment following the incident and now operates a taxi.
He has no previous convictions and was of previous good character, the court heard. His counsel asked yesterday that, if his client was to be jailed, any sentence should be deferred until after May 11th when his child was receiving first Holy Communion.