THE ONLY sound that could be heard in courtroom 15 as the jury entered to give its verdict yesterday was the sobbing of Garda Claire Delaney.
Her three colleagues, Garda Alan Conlon, Garda Eoin Murtagh and Garda Seán O’Leary, sat impassively at her side, occasionally whispering words of support to her. After a 25-day trial and seven hours of deliberations by the jury, the tension in the packed courtroom was palpable.
As the court registrar read out 12 unanimous not-guilty verdicts, several of the jury members also broke down.
Owen Gaffney, the man who claimed the gardaí came to his flat and assaulted him while he was sleeping on February 17th, 2008, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out, but his mother, whom he had claimed was held against her will while the assault took place, ran out.
These first 12 unanimous not- guilty verdicts covered counts of false imprisonment, forcible entry and trespass against all four gardaí. However the six women and six men on the jury could still not reach a unanimous verdict on three charges of assault against the three male gardaí.
Judge Desmond Hogan told the jurors he would accept a majority verdict and sent them back to deliberate further.
When they returned a few minutes later they delivered three more not-guilty verdicts.
Family members and friends of Gaffney, who is serving a three- year sentence for stealing a car that crashed into another car, shouted out in anger and tried to embrace him. They were prevented from reaching him and told to leave the court.
Gaffney, who spent much of the trial reading The Princeby philosopher Machiavelli, was led away back into custody.
The three gardaí embraced each other and their families outside the courtroom.