A former prisoner, who claimed a warder used a handcuffs "knuckleduster" in a blow which broke his nose, has been awarded £6,000 damages for personal injuries. Judge Esmonde Smyth heard in the Circuit Civil Court that Mr Darren Duff, of Hardwicke Street, Dublin, had taken part in the 1991 roof protest at Mountjoy Prison and that the assault had taken place in a strip cell following the protest.
He told Mr Duff's counsel, Ms Doirbhile Flanagan, that her client's evidence was more reliable than that produced on behalf of the prison authorities. Mr Duff told the court a prison officer had struck him after a visit from his solicitor. As he struck him, the officer had asked what he was doing getting a solicitor.