A Co Donegal man who claims he wrongly spent nine days in jail because he was mistaken by gardaí for another person has told the High Court he suffered panic attacks when he was put in a cell in Mountjoy Prison with two inmates who were smoking heroin.
Patrick Kelly, a part-time barber, formerly of Meadowbank, Letterkenny, and now of Ard na Rí, Letterkenny, is suing the State for false imprisonment over his "horrific" experience in prison before it was discovered the warrant used to arrest him related to another man of the same name.
His action is against Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick of the Donegal Garda; John O'Brien, governor of Loughan House prison; the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General. The defendants deny the claims. Evidence for Mr Kelly concluded yesterday before Mr Justice Eamon de Valera and a jury and the State will present its case tomorrow.
Mr Kelly, a father of two, who worked as a shutterer at the time, had been fined £350 in two separate District Court cases in 1997, one for a public order offence and the second for drink driving. If he failed to pay those fines, he was to serve a combined period of 15 days in jail. Yesterday, Mr Kelly said he did not pay the fines because he did not have the money. On December 28th, 1998, gardaí arrived at his home in Meadowbank with arrest warrants and took him to Letterkenny Garda station. He said gardaí refused to allow him to see the warrants, which were for a man with the same name and not for the offences he was fined for.
Despite telling gardaí he could get relatives to assist him to pay the fine, he said officers took him by taxi to Mountjoy Prison. He spent two days there, one in a holding cell with 12 others and the second night in a cell with three others. He said he got panic attacks because two of his cell-mates were smoking heroin.
After requesting to see the governor, he was told the warrants for him were in order, but on New Year's Eve he was transferred to Loughan House prison in Blacklion, Cavan, where a warder showed him the warrants, the mistake was discovered and he was released. The warrants related to another Patrick Kelly of Dooballagh, Letterkenny, for offences relating to exceeding the maximum weight on a lorry.
Cross-examined by Richard Lyons SC for the State, Mr Kelly said he had lived in Dooballagh "years ago". When he saw the warrants at Loughan House, he knew they did not relate to him because he had never driven a lorry.
He denied that he had not asked to see the warrants in Letterkenny or offered to pay any money at the station to meet the fines. He also denied that he had not asked to see the warrants when he arrived in Mountjoy Prison and said he kept asking to see them in Letterkenny, Mountjoy and Loughan House.
Mr Kelly's solicitor at the time, Niall Sheridan, said gardaí in Letterkenny could have phoned him before they took Mr Kelly to Mountjoy and his files could have been checked. The Garda rang Mr Sheridan's office, but the phone was unattended during the Christmas break. Mr Sheridan said after he contacted Supt Kevin Lennon and clarified that the warrant did not relate to Mr Kelly that gardaí accepted a mistake was made. This occurred on Mr Kelly's eighth day in jail.
Mr Kelly's partner, Verena Callan, said she went to the Garda station and offered £250, along with £114, which Mr Kelly had, but gardaí said it was "£450 or nothing" - the fine that his namesake faced - she said.