A Garda sergeant and former senior GAA footballer, Raymond Moore, told a judge yesterday he was lucky to be alive after a motorist hit him as he smashed through a Garda checkpoint.
Sgt Moore said he sustained neck, shoulder, back and leg injuries followed by a debilitating bout of post-traumatic stress disorder, which Ms Justice Mary Irvine accepted had left him quite intolerant in certain domestic situations.
Judge Irvine, awarding Sgt Moore (51) of Peak, Barnaderg, Tuam, Co Galway, damages and expenses, accepted his sporting interests of basketball and golf and the management and refereeing of junior matches had been seriously affected.
She awarded Sgt Moore €45,000 for pain and suffering to date and €17,000 in respect of future pain and suffering. She also awarded him €5,847 for expenses, bringing compensation to a total of €67,847.
At the High Court compensation hearing, Tony O’Connor SC, counsel for Sgt Moore, told the court he had been mounting a traffic checkpoint at Mountbellew, Co Galway, in October 2006 when a car driven by a foreign national smashed through the checkpoint, spinning Sgt Moore around and throwing him into the air.