A PRE-TRIAL of a retired Garda Superintendent and four serving Gardaí, over their alleged attempts to pervert the course of justice, which was due to start on Tuesday (October 3), may be postponed due to national industrial action planned by barristers.
The five accused are retired Garda Superintendent Eamon O’Neill (56) Limerick Garda Division; Garda Sergeants Anne Marie Hassett (39), Kerry Garda Division, and Michelle Leahy (47), Roxboro Road Garda Station, Limerick; former Waterford senior gaelic football manager, Garda Tom McGlinchey (51), Murroe Garda Station, County Limerick; and Garda Colm Geary (36), Clare Garda Division.
Between them, the five accused are charged with a total of 42 counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice following a Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) probe into alleged ‘squaring away’ of fixed charge penalty notices relating to different persons.
The accused’s trial is expected to last up to eight weeks at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
A pre-trial into the consideration of alleged evidence against the five accused was scheduled to start Tuesday.
However, a reliable source said it would not go ahead on the day due to national strike action planned by barristers, who have called on the government to quickly implement a mechanism to determine fees payable to barristers by the DPP and under the Legal Aid Scheme.
The pre-trial matters are likely to be heard later in the week, possibly Wednesday, the source said.
When the case was called for mention last June, presiding Judge Tom O’Donnell asked counsel for all sides to consider issues of commonality in an effort to move the case forward.
The court heard that the issue of mobile phone data and the execution of a search warrant will form a significant part of the pre-trial hearing.
The allegations against the five accused relate to dates between October 9, 2016, and September 6, 2019.
The five accused have been granted legal aid to cover the cost of a junior and senior counsel as well as a documentary junior counsel to manage what was previously described in court as a “complex” case.
