A WOMAN who claims she was unlawfully arrested and forced to strip down to her underwear in a Garda station during a search for drugs has brought a High Court action for damages.
Kieva Dunne, Manor Road, Mountmellick, Co Laois, has taken the action against the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the State, who deny the claims.
The hearing opened yesterday before Mr Justice Paul Gilligan and a jury and continues today.
In evidence yesterday, Ms Dunne said she was 19 on June 5th, 1999, and was in Tullamore, Co Offaly, to go to a disco. A car pulled up beside her with music coming from it and the driver told her to get in. There were two women in the back seat.
She did not recognise the driver and hesitated. "I was frightened and never arrested before," she said.
Ms Dunne said the driver kept telling her she was "Benny's girlfriend" but she didn't know who Benny was. She was brought to the Garda station and taken by a female garda into a room and told to undress. She was searched and "worked out it was a drugs search". After she was released, she walked back up the town and was devastated and crying. She had never taken drugs in her life and told her father. They later went to the Garda station and filled out a complaint form.
She felt very down, didn't go out and lost contact with her friends afterwards, and was on anti-depressant tablets since the incident.
Cross-examined by Richard Lyons SC, for the State, Ms Dunne agreed the entire incident lasted about 18 minutes and said she had given a wrong name initially because she did not know who the car driver was. She agreed that she had been caught shoplifting seven bottles of vodka from a supermarket but said she was never in court in relation to that. She agreed the nightclub she attended was "probably awash" with ecstasy but said she had nothing to do with it.
Det Garda Declan Geraghty said that following confidential information, he had searched a car and was on his way back to the station with two female suspects in the back of that car when he noticed Ms Dunne. He knew her and she knew him from his work in drugs. He identified himself with his official badge, he said.