A victim in one of the cases covered by the O’Higgins commission has said its report gives her no closure.
Taxi driver Mary Lynch was violently attacked in Virginia, Co Cavan, in April 2007 by the man who went on to murder Sylvia Roche Kelly.
In October 2007, while on bail for the assault, Jerry McGrath tried to abduct a five-year-old child from her home in Co Tipperary. He was out on bail a second time when he killed Ms Roche Kelly in December of that same year.
Ms Lynch has long criticised the handling of her case, which was wrongly classified as a “minor assault” by local gardaí.
It was one of eight crimes investigated by the O’Higgins commission established last year to examine claims of garda malpractice and corruption in the Cavan-Monaghan division.
The commission’s final report, published yesterday, noted that the investigation into Ms Lynch’s assault was “characterised by delay and lack of effective supervision of the investigating member”.
The report confirmed that Ms Lynch, through no fault of her own, was denied the right to be present at the court hearing where the matter was ultimately dealt with.
In an interview on Newstalk Lunchtime, Ms Lynch said she was glad the report had highlighted mistakes in her case.
But she added that she wants to see individuals in the force being held accountable for their faults.
“There are good men and women [in the gardaí] who are very good at their job and very diligent. Unfortunately, they’re not the ones I met,” she said.
“The ones I met didn’t do their job. They didn’t care about what happened to me ...
“We don’t get closure. Nothing has been seen to be done. We still live with it.”
Listen back to full interview here.
