Gardai assaulted man who filmed their raid
Monday December 07 2009
TWO gardai have been found guilty of assaulting a passer-by who filmed officers breaking up a fight outside a pub.
Eoin Lawless was dragged up against a garda van and kneed in the back of the legs when he refused to hand over his camera, a court heard.
Garda Gavin Keegan (28) and Garda Damien Kildea (26) pleaded not guilty and claimed Mr Lawless fell off his bicycle during a tussle for the camera.
But they were found guilty of assaulting or grabbing Mr Lawess, a Shell to Sea protester, leaving him with bruises.
Keegan was fined €650 and Kildea €500.
scapegoats
The pair, who both had commendations for excellent police work, were each ordered to pay €500 compensation to the grassroots activist.
The gardai had been called to provide urgent assistance at the Cat and Cage pub in Drum-condra following a fight between a group of Travellers, Dublin District Court heard.
Garda Kildea said he saw Mr Lawless recording and he genuinely felt what he was doing was wrong, though he said he now realised he had no legal right to take the camera. A judge said Mr Lawless was going about his lawful business, and the gardai did not act lawfully.
Mr Lawless insisted he did not want the gardai to be "scapegoats" or lose their jobs.
"My main issue wasn't with the incident itself. It was the mentality, that gardai think this kind of thing is okay and these gardai were trained to behave like that," he said.
A criminal damage charge against Garda Keegan was dismissed after his lawyer, John Ferry, said there was no evidence he deleted images from the camera.
The officers were summoned to appear before the Dublin District Court at the suit of the DPP following a Garda Ombudsman investigation into an accident outside the Cat and Cage pub on June 28, 2008.
Mr Lawless told the court: "It seemed strange to me that I was being lightly roughed up for just filming."
aphelan@herald.ie
- Andrew Phelan
