A young Dublin soldier has been found not guilty of assaulting two gardai at his twenty-first after party in his home last year.
Naoise O’Conarain (22) had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting Gdi Andrew Quinn and Fiachra Molloy causing them harm at his Redwood Lawn, Kilnamanagh home in Tallaght on March 10, 2013.
The jury of four women and eight men took one hour and 47 minutes to acquit Mr O’Conarain of both charges. It was day 11 of the trial.
Earlier this week, Judge Patrick McCartan directed the jury to find the accused not guilty of assaulting three more gardai due to lack of evidence.
Judge McCartan thanked the jury for their time and effort and excused them from further service. He told Mr O’Conarain that he was free to go. Mr O’Conarain has no previous convictions.
Gdi Quinn and Molloy gave evidence during the trial that Mr O’Conarain attacked them in the bathroom of his home after an initial response to a domestic disturbance emergency call.
Gda Molloy said the soldier, who is based at Cathal Brugha Barracks in Rathmines, punched him in the face during a first incident in the bathroom.
Gda Quinn told the court he received up to 30 stitches to his lip after a second bathroom struggle, during which it was alleged Mr O’Conarain cut him with a disposable razor.
Mr O’Conarain’s mother, Olga Howlett, told the court that gardai had used “uncalled for” language and beat her son.
Keith Henry, a family friend, also gave evidence that the officers could have “handled the situation a lot better.”
Mr O'Conarain's mother, Olga Howlett, told Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, that gardai behaved disrespectfully in her home and beat her son in the bathroom.
Ms Howlett said she had been in bed around midnight after leaving her son's 21st birthday party at the local GAA club.
She said she got up later when she heard banging and then saw Mr O'Conarain and another son, Fionn, having an argument.
When asked by Mr Higgins if the gardai who showed up had behaved respectfully, Ms Howlett replied: “Absolutely not. Children were pepper sprayed in my home.
“There was language used that was uncalled for. My son was being beaten in the bathroom.”
She described falling in the bathroom during the incident.
“I woke with a guard standing on my leg with his hand raised. I think I went unconscious. I don’tknow,” she testified.
Keith Henry, a family friend, said he had been in the bathroom diffusing an earlier row between Mr O’Conarain and his brother when two gardai entered unannounced.
He told Mr O’Higgins that the gardai should have found out the situation before going “straight for” the accused to pull him out of the bathroom.
He said he believed the officers could have “handled the situation a lot better.”
The witness said he didn’t see Mr O’Conarain punch one of the gardai in the first struggle and described shielding Ms Howlett, who had been knocked to the ground.
He told Mr O'Higgins he saw one garda hit Mr O’Conarain on the head with what looked like the butt of a torch during a second bathroom struggle.
Mr Henry agreed with Ms Noctor that someone can be heard on video footage saying “he’s got a razor lads, watch” on the video, but added he didn’t hear any mention of such an implement while at the scene.
Gda Molloy told Cathleen Noctor BL, prosecuting, that he and Garda Ross Foy arrived at the home in response to a domestic disturbance 999 call from a man named “Fionn”.
The garda told the court that he encountered Mr O’Conarain in the bathroom, bare-chested and in an agitated state.
He said there were a number of other people on the scene, including Mr O'Conarain's brother.
The officer said he tried to separate Mr O'Conarain from fighting with his brother, but the young soldier called him a “fucking rat” and punched him in the face.
He said he used his pepper spray after Mr O'Conarain punched him a second time.
Gda Molloy told Ms Noctor that he called for backup after his colleague, Gda Foy, pulled him out of the bathroom by his stab vest.
The officer and Gda Kevin Keane both testified that they saw Mr O'Conarain scratch another colleague, Gda Quinn, with a disposable razor during a struggle in the bathroom.
Gda Molloy denied he had “over-egged” his injuries when Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, put a medical report to him which suggested he had suffered a sore thumb.
Mr O'Higgins read out a doctor's report which stated the rest of the garda's physical exam had been normal.
Gda Molloy replied he had been given pain killers on discharge from Tallaght Hospital.
Gda Foy told prosecution counsel, Cathleen Noctor BL, that he and Garda Molloy had met a crying girl at the front door, who informed them people were “upstairs killing one another.”
He said he saw the accused struggle in the bathroom with his colleague and try to bite him on the ear and head.
He added that the next time he saw Mr O’Conarain, Gda Molloy had appeared “very dishevelled” and Gda Quinn’s face was covered in blood.
Mr O’Higgins put it to him that in Gda Molloy’s evidence, the girl at the door had not suggested people were “killing each other.”
Gda Foy said he believed he was right in what he heard the girl say.
Gda Quinn told the court that Mr O'Conarain punched him in the face shortly after he had attended the scene to assist colleagues.
He described how he received 25 to 30 stitches to his lip following the struggle and had to attend six counselling sessions.
When Mr O'Higgins asked him if he had been aggressive, he replied that he had been “assertive.”
He said: “I’ve never experienced a situation of this level before. I was there as a member of An Garda Siochana. I wasn’t there as a street fighter or some sort of vigilante.”
