A MAN charged with drug dealing and assaulting a detective has been found not guilty by direction of Judge Frank O'Donnell who described the Garda evidence as "disturbing" and "contradictory".
Judge O'Donnell recommended that a search by up to 15 gardaí of the house where the man was arrested be referred to the Garda Ombudsman for investigation.
Trevor Ormond (29), St Mark's Avenue, Clondalkin, Dublin, had denied possessing heroin and to assaulting a detective garda in April 2005. The judge directed the jury to record a not-guilty verdict after a three-day trial during which he heard evidence that gardaí were choking Mr Ormond before they arrested him.
Jonathan Delaney snr, owner of the house and father of Mr Ormond's girlfriend, said he saw Mr Ormond struggling on the ground with two people who he claimed did not identify themselves as gardaí. He intervened to "stop them choking him to death" when they had their hands across his neck and his face was turning purple.
Mr Delaney told Garnet Orange, prosecuting, that he did not realise they were gardaí until he heard one of them asking for assistance on the phone. He, his wife and two daughters were subsequently charged with obstruction and pleaded guilty because "you need money to fight a case like that".
His daughters had to plead guilty and accept a fine for the offence because they were close to losing their jobs due to their repeated appearances in court.
Mr Ormond told his counsel, Breffni Gordon, that gardaí who gave evidence lied about taking drugs from his clenched fist. He did not hear them identify themselves, he did not know how many were trying to pin him down or that one of them was female. "I was under the impression I was getting murdered."
He agreed he tried to break free of the garda's restraint outside his partner's house in Clondalkin. "I did put up a struggle. I was in fear for my life at the time, I'm not saying otherwise." He denied he bit Det Garda Peter Hayes on the right hand or tried to bite other gardaí. Following the struggle in his house, Mr Delaney was arrested with Mr Ormond and brought to the Garda station as up to 15 gardaí searched his premises.
Mr Delaney's son, Jonathan jnr, said after his father was arrested, "10 or 15 gardaí" arrived outside and demanded he hand over the house keys. He said the gardaí shouted at him that they would break down the door and some of them started kicking it. One garda grabbed him by the neck and "hung" him up against the porch wall.
Mr Delaney jnr said his brother handed over the keys and gardaí "ransacked" the house for about 30 minutes.
His father described it as "the worst time of my life" and said that following the search the house was "unliveable" for two days.
Judge O'Donnell told the jury he was directing a not-guilty verdict on all counts because several pieces of Garda evidence contradicted each other. He was also concerned by two undated Garda statements which he said "appeared to have been drafted to accommodate the situation".
Referring to the alleged finding of a bag of cocaine at the scene, Judge O'Donnell said there was no evidence of this.
He also questioned the need for a search of the house following Mr Ormond's arrest and said the alleged search should be referred to the Garda Ombudsman.