The widow and children of a Garda sergeant who died after an alleged arson attack at Tallaght Garda station were awarded an additional £215,000 in compensation by the High Court yesterday. This brings the total award to £859,000. It is among the highest ever paid to the family of a garda who died on duty.
Last October Mr Justice O'Sullivan awarded Sgt Andrew Callanan's family £635,000 for direct financial loss and a further £9,000 in special damages. Of that amount, Mrs Yvonne Callanan was to receive £527,000 for financial loss and special damages, her son Stephen, aged six, £36,000, and their four-year-old twin daughters, Jennifer and Sophie, £40,500 each.
Yesterday the judge awarded them a further £215,000 for non-financial losses. Mrs Callanan was in court.
Sgt Callanan died in what the judge described as "horrific circumstances" after being "engulfed in flames". He was attempting to control a man said to have walked into the public reception area of the station shortly after 4 a.m. on July 21st last year, carrying a plastic container of a highly flammable substance. The sergeant was rushed to Tallaght hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after 5.30 a.m.
Criminal proceedings have been taken.
When assessing compensation for non-financial loss for the Callanan family yesterday, Mr Justice O'Sullivan awarded Mrs Callanan a further £100,000, Stephen an extra £35,000 and the twin girls £40,000 each.
The judge said his impression of Mrs Callanan, when giving her evidence last October, was that of a young woman still in her 30s who remained deeply traumatised and debilitated by the death of her husband.
He noted that certain newspaper coverage had caused particular distress to Mrs Callanan. He said she had no social life and did not want to have any.
Since her husband's death Mrs Callanan had had to learn to drive, which she had never wanted to do, he added.