A woman who was awoken in the early hours of the morning to find a man in her bedroom pointing a gun at her was awarded €50,000 damages in the High Court yesterday.
Ms Susan Brennan claimed that she suffered trauma and distress after gardaí mistakenly raided her Sligo home for drugs while she was asleep in bed. The court heard that the gardaí had intended to raid another house in the area.
Ms Brennan (36), a shop assistant, of Benbulben Terrace, Sligo, sued Det Garda Seamus Kearns and Garda William O'Neill, both of Sligo Garda station, and Ireland and the Attorney General.
The incident occurred between 6 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. on October 4th, 1997.
Mr Justice O'Donovan, who was told that one garda pointed a gun at Ms Brennan while she was in bed, said she had suffered a horrifying experience. He noted that there had been "less than sensitive" handling of the situation afterwards and liability was initially denied.
The judge heard that one of the two gardaí had apologised on their behalf when they realised the mistake. However, it was reprehensible on the part of the Garda authorities that they were not "down on their knees" apologising to Ms Brennan within minutes or hours of the events.
Ms Brennan claimed that she awoke to find an unidentified man pointing a gun at her and her partner. She was questioned.After the incident she had been unable to sleep and was out of work for about a week. She was prescribed medication and received counselling after seeing a psychiatrist.
Det Garda Kearns, in evidence, said that the gardaí entered the house by a downstairs door. There was an operation in which they were entering three houses. He shouted "armed gardaí" and ran upstairs. He had his personal-issue firearm in his hand. Ms Brennan jumped up out of bed and was screaming.
Det Garda Kearns said he realised there was a mistake. He did not point the gun at anyone. When he realised they were in the wrong house, he "holstered" his gun immediately. He was wearing a combat jacket.
Garda O'Neill, in evidence, said he accepted that Ms Brennan was traumatised.
The judge said that he unreservedly accepted Ms Brennan's account of how the incident had affected her. He had no doubt about the genuineness of her distress. He also did not doubt that what occurred was a genuine mistake on the part of the gardaí.