SARGENT RESIGNATION:A DISPUTE between neighbours that ended up before the courts was at the centre of the controversy which has forced the resignation from ministerial office of Trevor Sargent TD.
The constituent on whose behalf Mr Sargent made representations to gardaí was assaulted by his neighbour.
However, despite being the victim of the assault, he was prosecuted for threatening and abusive behaviour and was fined €500.
The incident unfolded on the Cardy Rock estate in Balbriggan, north Co Dublin, in September 2007. Dominic McGowan (37), Cardy Rock Close, was on his way home from work when he protested with local children as they attempted to remove a road sign from the estate.
Mr McGowan then became involved in a dispute over the matter with one of the children’s parents.
The man assaulted Mr McGowan during the dispute.
In Mr Sargent’s account of the incident to the Dáil yesterday, he said the assault on Mr McGowan took the form of a head butt.
Gardaí were called after the assault and a criminal investigation was begun. Mr McGowan received treatment in hospital for his injuries.
The man was later convicted of assaulting Mr McGowan and was sentenced to four months. He is appealing and is due in court again on the matter next month.
As well as being convicted of the assault, the man in question was also convicted of threatening and abusive behaviour and fined €500.
Mr McGowan was also convicted of threatening and abusive behaviour and was fined €500 in relation to the same incident.
The man who assaulted him was already known to gardaí before the September 2007 incident. He was convicted of an assault in west Dublin in 2003 and sentenced to one month in prison, which was suspended on appeal.
Mr Sargent said in the Dáil yesterday that when Mr McGowan contacted him in the aftermath of the 2007 row he, Mr McGowan, feared for his safety. He said he was also frustrated at what he believed was the slow progress of the case. Mr Sargent said Mr McGowan was also of the view that a number of witnesses to the incident had not been interviewed by gardaí.
Mr Sargent wrote to the investigating garda who is based at Balbriggan Garda station.
He raised Mr McGowan’s concerns in that letter and said he believed it was “wholly inappropriate” that a case was being taken against Mr McGowan, a constituent of Mr Sargent’s.
He said he was writing in an effort to get the charges against Mr McGowan dropped, describing him as a civic-minded man.
The garda investigating the matter ignored Mr Sargent’s representation. She pursued the charges against Mr McGowan and the two charges against the man who assaulted him securing three convictions.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy has requested a report in a bid to determine if any criminal matters arise.
The Irish Timesunderstands Mr Murphy requested a report be compiled after he learned from the media yesterday that Mr Sargent had contacted gardaí in relation to a criminal case.
The report for Mr Murphy will include the Garda file on the three criminal charges at the centre of the case. It will also include the letter from Mr Sargent to the investigating garda.
The matter is unlikely to go any further. While it could be deemed unlawful for Mr Sargent to make representations to gardaí during a criminal investigation, that action is not a criminal offence and does not carry any sanction.