A detective whose face was slashed with a razor blade on a plane as he accompanied a man being deported from the State, has been awarded €25,000 damages at a garda compensation hearing in the High Court.
Barrister Breffni Gordon told Mr Justice Michael Twomey that Det Garda Eamon Moran (44), of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, was escorting a Nigerian man on a plane flying between Madrid and Lagos when the deportee succeeded in arming himself with a razor blade and attacked him.
Mr Gordon, who appeared with Murray Flynn Maguire Solicitors for the injured garda, said Det Garda Moran was lacerated across his right ear, the right side of his face and on his upper back before his attacker was restrained.
Det Garda Moran told the court he was fortunate that there was a doctor on board who administered first aid and applied dressings to stop the bleeding.
On his return to Madrid he went to hospital and 29 stitches were needed to close his wounds. He remained in the hospital overnight before returning to Ireland where he saw his GP for further treatment and advice.
Scarring
Det Garda Moran, of Templeogue, Dublin, told Mr Gordon that more than three years after the incident he had been told by a medical expert that while his wounds had fully healed, the scarring would be permanent “and will remain with me for the rest of my life”.
Judge Twomey heard that Det Garda Moran suffered from stress, anxiety and sleep disturbance following the attack and had completed almost a dozen counselling sessions. In 2015, his medical expert recorded that he did not suffer any residual post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Det Garda Moran told Esther Earley, for the Minister for Public Expenditure, that there had been a very short turnaround at Lagos airport and he had not been hospitalised until his return to Madrid.
Initially people had been concerned for him and he had to tell the story of the attack over and over and he had found this distressing but was better able to talk about it now.
He told the court he was off work for about four months but was keen to get back to his full duties. Eight months after the incident while flying with a prisoner to Chicago, he experienced slight apprehension but successfully dealt with it.
Judge Twomey awarded Det Garda Moran €25,000 damages together with some €3,000 in special expenses.