THE JURY in the trial of four gardaí charged with offences relating to an alleged assault on a man was yesterday shown closed-circuit television footage of the late night incident.
Waterford city-based Sgt Alan Kissane, Sgt Martha McEnery and Garda Daniel Hickey all deny assaulting Anthony Holness (38), causing him harm, while Garda John Burke denies acting with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of another and acting in a manner tending and intended to pervert the course of justice.
The alleged offences happened after 2.30am on January 29th, 2010, at New Street in Waterford city, after Mr Holness was seen urinating on the street following a night out.
CCTV footage from the New Street-John Street junction in the city was shown to the jury during yesterday’s trial proceedings.
The footage showed the arrest of Mr Holness and what happened immediately before and afterwards.
Garda Hickey is alleged to have “repeatedly” punched Mr Holness in the head, when the alleged injured party resisted arrest while Sgt Kissane is alleged to have stood on Mr Holness and Sgt McEnery is alleged to have hit him in the head with her fist.
Garda Burke was operating the CCTV controls in the Garda station at the time and is alleged to have turned a camera away from the scene for a number of seconds.
Supt Chris Delaney told the court that, when he saw the footage on February 10th last year, he made a referral to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission under the relevant legislation.
The commission then began an investigation, he said.
An extract from Garda Hickey’s notebook record of the night, when he arrested Mr Holness, was read out in court. In it, he wrote that Mr Holness told him and Garda Áine Mullins to “f*** off” and mind their own business.
“When I approached this male once again, I was told he’d kick the f***ing head off me. He was also very aggressive towards Garda Mullins,” Garda Hickey wrote in his notebook.
When he told Mr Holness he was being arrested, the man started roaring and shouting: “I’ll f***ing take you now. I’ll give you a right f***ing beating.”
Supt Delaney told Elaine Morgan, for Garda John Burke, that Garda Burke didn’t receive “initial training” in the operation of the CCTV system when it was installed at Waterford Garda station.
Insp John Mulligan, in charge of overall training at the station, said that Garda Burke didn’t attend a training day on April 30th, 2009, as he wasn’t stationed in Waterford at the time.
The trial continues today and is now likely to run into next week.