Judge John F. Neilan said at Granard District Court, Co Longford, yesterday that he was absolutely appalled by the conduct of Garda officers involved in a speeding case heard at Mullingar District Court on Wednesday.
He said that a camcorder videotape taken of the driving of the two defendants had been handed over to RTÉ and shown on the station's 9pm news on Thursday even though the tape was not produced by the prosecution as part of the case made to the court.
Judge Neilan said the videotape, which was recovered from one of the defendant's cars by gardaí, was court property and he was requesting the Garda Commissioner to provide an explanation as to how the recording (made by one of the defendants during the speeding incident) ended up on RTÉ news when it was not produced to the court.
"I am deeply offended that officers would stoop to the standard that they have done and release court material, which was never presented to the court, and hand it over to the media to be shown on television."
The judge said there were various tribunals sitting over recent years, including the Morris tribunal. It seemed to him that the conclusions of that tribunal, while rejected by the Garda association, were not being addressed and there were certain members of the Garda "who believe they have a God-given right to undermine the cases of the Director of Public Prosecutions and to generate as much hype and hysteria that they can".
The judge made his remarks in relation to a case involving Tommy Gorman (34), Coach House, Milltownpass, Co Westmeath, and Alberto Rizzini, (23), Portloman, Slanemore, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, who appeared on summons for dangerous driving.
At the Mullingar hearing it was stated that the defendants drove at speeds of 192km/h, on occasions side by side, along the Mullingar dual carriageway. It was stated that a garda travelling in an unmarked car spotted the two men, who were driving a Ford Focus and a Lancia, "weaving in and out of lanes, overtaking cars on the bypass, travelling at high speed".
The judge made his remarks at the start of Granard Court when he said he wished to make reference to the hype and hysteria generated by the case at Mullingar Court. He was satisfied beyond any shadow of doubt that one of the prosecuting officers primed the media, not alone in the case but in the nature of the evidence to be used in support of that case.
Referring to the camcorder and tape, the judge said this material was not available to the court and the prosecution had decided, without indicating to him or indicating to the media, that they were withdrawing two of the charges. Those two charges related to the material which was retained in the camcorder.
"The Director of Public Prosecution didn't give any reason to the court for not proceeding with those particular charges. It is my belief that he came to the conclusion that the material was unlawfully released by an officer in question and wouldn't be admissible in a court of law regarding the driving of the defendants.
"The only evidence given to me was as recounted by the inspector, which was in respect of a journey of less than a mile of ground. I am strongly of the view that the evidence of the arresting officer was tainted and embellished by what he saw on camcorder."
The judge spoke about the administration of justice being a cornerstone of democracy and said that in that cornerstone was the presumption of innocence.
"The conduct of members of the Garda Síochána in discussing evidence and possibly releasing material which was intended to be used in this court is nothing short of scandalous," he said.