Garda gets €50,000 for boiling oil burns

A garda who was badly injured when boiling oil was splashed over him as he tried to sort out a domestic row had been awarded €50,000 damages in the High Court.

Garda Michael O’Shea told a Garda compensation hearing that in July 2011, he was called to a domestic dispute involving custody of children at James’s Street, Dublin.

Francis McGath, for Garda O’Shea, was told he had explained to the father he would need a court order to get custody of his children and he then spoke to the mother. She told him she had boiling oil which she would throw on the father if he did not leave.

Garda O'Shea, Baldoyle, Dublin, told the court that when he looked over his shoulder he saw the woman with a pan of boiling oil in her hand. She threw it at them.

Burns
He said she intended to throw the oil at the father but he had received most of it.

Garda O’Shea was taken to St James’s Hospital where second-degree burns were treated. Ms Justice Mary Irvine awarded Garda O’Shea €50,000 in compensation for his injuries against the Minister for Finance.