A garda has been found not guilty of striking a protester with his baton at the "Reclaim the Streets" protest in Dublin city centre three years ago.
Garda Paul Tallon (31), based at Mountjoy Station, was acquitted by the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of assault causing harm to Fergal Leddy (35) on May 6th, 2002.
It was the ninth of the hearing and the jury of ten men and two women reached its verdict after spending one night in a hotel following almost five hours of deliberations.
Judge Joseph Matthews discharged Garda Tallon from the court and thanked the jury for its care and attention to the case.
Mr Leddy had claimed that someone hit him on the head with a baton as he was trying to assist a fellow protester whom he said "one garda seemed to be strangling." He said the protester was shouting to be let go but the garda was not responding.
He said he first appealed verbally to the garda who was holding the protester but when that did not have any affect, he interceded and came between them pushing them apart.
Mr Leddy said that at this stage he received a blow to the head. "I remember a sharp pain to my head. I may have lost consciousness or at least been stunned but the next thing I knew there were gardaí around me and they were continuously striking my head."
Mr Leddy told the jury that he then started shouting at gardaí that he was not resisting. He said he did not see who was striking him, as he had his hands over his head in attempt to protect himself.
Garda Tallon admitted striking Mr Leddy with his baton but denied hitting him on the head. He said he saw Mr Leddy holding a garda by the throat and he came to his colleague's assistance.
Garda Tallon said he struck Mr Leddy three times on the upper arm in an effort to get him to loosen his grip on the other garda. Mr Leddy let go after the third strike.
Garda Tallon admitted that it was possible that he struck Mr Leddy on the head but said that if he had it was never his intention to do so.