A solicitor told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that a garda jumped up and down outside an interview room in an attempt to spy on a private consultation he was having with a man accused of possessing £1.5 million of ecstasy. Mr Michael White, acting for a lorry driver, Mr Declan Donaghy, said he hurried from the consultation room and warned Det Garda Patricia McGarrity that her behaviour was distracting and potentially harassing.
Mr Donaghy (27), of Parkview, Newtowncloughoge, Newry, Co Down, denies having the ecstasy for sale or supply at Santry Avenue, Dublin, on April 29th, 1998. Prosecutors allege Mr Donaghy was used as a driver to bring the drugs to Dublin port from England.
Mr White told Mr Brendan Grogan SC, defending, that he travelled from Newry to Santry Garda station to consult Donaghy on the night of his arrest. During a 20-minute consultation, he saw a woman garda jumping up and down in an attempt to see in through a window. He immediately left the room and remonstrated with Det Garda McGarrity. She replied that she was simply checking on Mr Donaghy, as she was obliged to do.
Mr White said that after warning Det Garda McGarrity that she was potentially harassing him, he returned to the consultation. Ten minutes later another garda came into the room and told him "politely and firmly" that he had been there long enough. He said he told the garda the time wasn't sufficient and was then allowed another 15 minutes. In his experience a consultation of between 2 and 21/2 hours would have been required. Cross-examined by Mr Padraig Dwyer, prosecuting, Mr White agreed that Mr Donaghy alleged that he had been threatened and abused by gardai.
Asked why he didn't request that this be entered in the custody record, he replied that this was normally done only after there was an allegation of assault. Earlier, Mr Donaghy's wife, Rosaleen, said her husband had a "soft" personality and was a family man. They had a £38,000 mortgage on a £40,000 house, and she hadn't noticed any significant change in his income since he began employment as a lorry driver. The trial continues before Judge Frank O'Donnell.