Security guard awarded €15,000 after being jailed by mistake

A Dublin security guard has been awarded €15,000 for what has been described by a judge as a person’s worst nightmare after having been “cuffed, arrested and jailed” for more than 24 hours because of a clerical error.

Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said an incorrectly addressed bench warrant had been issued for the arrest of 29-year-old Khalid Hamdy who, on the strength of it, had been wrongly detained by gardaí

Mr Hamdy had sued the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner for false imprisonment. The defendants had initially denied negligence but the court heard that liability had since been conceded and that the claim had become an assessment of damages only.

Barrister Eoghan Cole, counsel for Mr Hamdy, said that although his client, had produced insurance documents to Swords Garda station in relation to traffic offences their production had not been recorded.

Mr Hamdy had not received summonses which had been issued against him as they had been served to a wrong address. The bench warrant had been issued when he had failed to turn up in court.

Mr Cole said Mr Hamdy, of Cedarview, Ridgewood, Swords, Co Dublin, had been driving back from work in the early hours of August 7th, 2011, when he had been stopped by gardaí­.

After his licence had been checked he had been told he was being arrested because a bench warrant existed against him. He had been placed in custody despite not having been shown the warrant.

Mr Hamdy told the court he had been extremely anxious and stressed because he suffered from a suspected temple lobe epilepsy dysfunction which required him to take regular medication to avoid a risk of seizures. He said he had received medical treatment while in custody.

The following morning at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, he had been placed in a small holding cell with 20 other people but had been released before lunch as the bench warrant had not been produced in court. He had never since been told that the warrant had been cancelled.

Judge Groarke said Mr Hamdy had been deprived of his liberty for quite a period of time and had been let down by the system. Mr Hamdy, originally from Egypt, has lived in Ireland since the age of three.