No evidence to support disciplinary action against garda, tribunal told

Disciplinary action against a Garda sergeant was stopped when it emerged there was no evidence to support the allegations against him, a tribunal has heard.

Sergeant William Hughes, who has since retired from the force, had alleged a systems’ failure within the Garda over the case of Baiba Saulite, the mother-of-two shot dead at her home in Swords, Co Dublin in November 2006.

In a 2008 protected disclosure he alleged that the case of Ms Saulite, who had been subjected to domestic abuse prior to her murder, had been mishandled.

Soon after the Swords-based sergeant made his views known to fellow gardaí­, he himself was placed under investigation for “failure to take appropriate action on information known in respect of Ms Baiba Saulite”, something he denied.

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In June 2009, the disciplinary action was stopped on the orders of Assistant Commissioner Al McHugh, who said Sgt Hughes was “completely exonerated . . . with no blemish on his character or history”.

The decision should have come much sooner, Sgt Hughes told the chairman of the Disclosures Tribunal, Mr Justice Sean Ryan,on Thursday.

“It took two years to come to that determination based on information they already had. The disciplinary action was unwarranted,” he told Mr Justice Ryan.

But was it done to target him, as he had alleged, the chairman asked. Sgt Hughes replied: “well it was the next thing in the sequence of events.”

In that sequence, Sgt Hughes had alleged an internal Garda systems’ failure in the case of Ms Saulite whose murder remains unsolved. Mr Justice Ryan has directed that nothing should be reported that might identify anyone who might have been arrested in relation to her killing.

On October 20th, 2006, Sgt Hughes told colleagues of his concerns for Ms Saulite, arising out of a history of her being a victim of domestic violence.

“However, there was nothing to indicate that her life was under threat,” the investigation report into him stated, according to evidence shown to the Tribunal on Thursday.

Sgt Hughes denied to the internal investigation that he had read a victim impact statement by Ms Saulite “wherein she actually states that she feared for her life”. The investigation into him concluded “it is unlikely that the (statement) contents could be interpreted as a real and substantial risk to the life of Ms Baiba Saulite”.

In April 2010, all of Sgt Hughes’ allegations about the handling of Ms Saulite’s case were rejected by Assistant Commissioner Michael Feehan, as being “without foundation”. In February 2013, Sgt Hughes retired from the guards on medical grounds.

The Tribunal, which is sitting in Dublin Castle and was set up in the main to examine allegations made by Sgt Maurice McCabe and other Garda Síochána whistleblowers, heard on Thursday that the Garda’s chief medical officer, Dr Richard Quigley, determined in June 2008 that Sgt Hughes “no longer possesses the necessary health to perform the demanding role of a police officer.”

Sgt Hughes told the Tribunal he felt that the approach to him by the Garda’s senior management was an example of him being “targeted” and he denied repeated Garda accusations, contained in correspondence with his solicitor and in written exchanges between senior Garda members that he was refusing to engage face-to-face with officers investigating his case.

“If those issues had been dealt with by the garda management, it would have dealt with the mental health issues,” he told counsel for the Tribunal, Patrick Marrinan SC.

By January 2009, Sgt Hughes’ pay had been reduced to half pay, and then pension level pay, because Garda management determined that his absence from work was not work related.

However an examination that month by another psychiatrist, Dr John Griffin of St Patrick’s, led to a reversal of that. Dr Griffin disagreed with an earlier assessment stating that Sgt Hughes was not fit for work, a tribunal has heard.

After his examination of Sgt Hughes, Dr Griffin concluded: “In my opinion, his absence from work is definitely related to work issues.” Following this, Sgt Hughes was returned to what were described as “light duties”.

“In my heart of hearts,” former Sgt Hughes told the Tribunal, “I knew I had done nothing wrong in regards to the [Baiba Saulite] investigation.”

“You were getting it in the neck?” commented Mr Justice Ryan, to which Sgt Hughes agreed.