THE GARDA Ombudsman Commission yesterday confirmed that it had started an investigation following receipt of a complaint by Ian Bailey over his treatment by gardaí during the investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.
The detailed complaint by Mr Bailey draws on a review by a solicitor in the DPP’s office of the Garda file on the murder of Ms Toscan du Plantier, as well as other material disclosed to Mr Bailey’s legal team during his Supreme Court appeal against extradition to France.
The complaint also refers to an alleged approach by a senior garda to State Solicitor for west Cork, Malachy Boohig, in 1998, when the officer is alleged to have asked Mr Boohig to contact then minister for justice John O’Donoghue to get the DPP to charge Mr Bailey. Details of the alleged approach were disclosed by former DPP Eamon Barnes in an email he sent to the DPP’s office in mid-October 2011, which in turn was forwarded to the Attorney General, who advised it should be disclosed to Mr Bailey’s legal team.
Contacted regarding the criticisms of the Garda investigation raised in the DPP’s review, the Garda Press Office said that it was not in a position to make any comment as the matters were now the subject of an investigation by the Garda Ombudsman Commission.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has defended its handling of the application for a European arrest warrant for Mr Bailey after Mr Bailey’s solicitor, Frank Buttimer, described the application by the French authorities as “misguided”.
The Department of Justice said the Minister for Justice has no role in deciding whether someone should be extradited and that under the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, the minister of the day is obliged to put any warrants received here before the courts for decision.
Meanwhile, in France, a group campaigning for justice for Ms Toscan du Plantier and her family have vowed to continue their struggle to find out what happened to her and they expressed forthright criticism of the Irish justice system.
The Association for the Truth about the Murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier said it “had learned with surprise, disconcerting disappointment and anger of the decision of the Irish Supreme Court to refuse the application by French judiciary to extradite Ian Bailey”.
According to the association’s president and uncle of Ms Toscan du Plantier, Jean Pierre Gazeau, the decision by the Supreme Court “blocks the emergence of the truth in this heinous crime” in which his niece was murdered during a visit to Ireland in 1996.
“We have the feeling that Sophie is now twice a victim – firstly at the hands of her killer and now at the hands of the Irish justice system – we believe the parents, son, brothers and our group are also the victim of deep contradictions within the Irish justice and police system.
“In France, we have a strong feeling that the final decision of the Supreme Court yesterday opportunistically avoids the development of a public confrontation between the Garda and the DPP – and where is the place of the victim in this mess?
“All of the people in our group do not feel discouraged despite the huge shock of the Supreme Court decision – it has given us a strong impulse to express our solidarity even more with Sophie’s family by making us ever more determined to continue our fight for justice.”