A retired garda superintendent accused of unlawfully quashing pending penalty points has been described as an outstanding crime fighter who previously used his discretion to save lives.
Former superintendent Eamon O’Neill, and four serving gardaí, are on trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court charged with a total of 39 counts of engaging in conduct tending or intended to pervert the course of justice.
The four serving gardaí on trial along with Mr O’Neill are sergeant Anne Marie Hassett, sergeant Michelle Leahy, Garda Colm Geary, Garda Tom McGlinchey, all serving in the Limerick and Clare divisions.
The use of a garda’s discretion — to cancel pending traffic tickets — when dealing with members of the public has been central to the trial.
On Monday, the trial heard from retired chief superintendent Gerry Mahon, who described Mr O’Neill as one of the most dedicated crime fighters he had ever worked with.
Mr Mahon said Mr O’Neill was one of a handful of gardaí responsible for restoring peace to the streets of Limerick when the public faced “anarchy” from the feuding gangs which, he said, murdered 23 people, including innocent bystanders, between 1997 and the mid-2000s.
Mr Mahon recalled how Mr O’Neill had used his discretion when dealing with a man he had arrested for an alleged public order offence but who had requested to attend a family event.
Mr Mahon said this individual was attacked and stabbed 20 times in a gang hit, but he survived, and “he would only give a statement to Mr O’Neill” due to the discretion Mr O’Neill showed to him previously.
Mr Mahon said this was a groundbreaking moment for gardaí, as the norm up to then had been that gangs did not talk to gardaí.
“As a result, five gang members were charged with murder — it really was the key that opened up the door and decimated the gangs,” Mr Mahon said.
Mr Mahon said Mr O’Neill “saved many lives” while serving as a garda, and helped “put an end to the horrific warfare” at great risk to himself.
After he learned that Mr O’Neill was charged in connection with the cancelling of traffic tickets, Mr Mahon wrote a 17-page letter to the Garda Commissioner outlining Mr O’Neill’s professionalism.
Mr Mahon said he was also routinely asked by members of the public “for discretion” and he often used it. He often used and sanctioned “light touch policing” to build the trust of the community, he told the court.
“We brought a common, basic humanity to it,” Mr Mahon said.
Mr Mahon argued:
You have the law, you have the human being in front of you, and you have discretion, it is in every facet of policing.
“A member of the public is entitled to ask a garda for discretion, a garda’s application of the law is greatly facilitated by the use of his/her discretion.”
The court heard that under previous Garda policy, local garda superintendents did have the power to cancel traffic tickets, but the policy changed following the so-called penalty points scandal.
Senior prosecuting counsel, Carl Hanahoe, put it to Mr Mahon that a Garda HQ directive implemented in 2014 resulted in the power to cancel traffic tickets being removed from local superintendents and given to three superintendents based out of a “cancelling authority, Thurles, Co Tipperary”.
Mr Mahon agreed with Mr Hanahoe that Garda policy at the time meant that Mr O’Neill did not have the power to cancel traffic tickets when it is alleged he was involved in doing so.
Mr Mahon said this might or might not have resulted in a potential breach of garda disciplinary procedures, but that in his opinion, it was not a criminal offence.