Garda held over claim she forged DPP documentation

A member of the Garda has been arrested and was due to appear before the courts this morning over allegations that she forged documentation from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The correspondence at the centre of the case was given to a sexual assault victim and said that the DPP had considered a file on their case and had decided there was no criminal case for the alleged perpetrator to answer.

As well as a criminal investigation there is also an internal Garda investigation into the matter and other similar but unrelated cases have been uncovered and are being probed.

The garda due to appear before the Dublin District Court this morning was arrested two weeks ago although nothing has emerged about the case until now. She is in her 40s and is based at a Garda station in Co Wicklow.

Historical cases
The case leading to the charge against her came to light in 2011 when a Garda inquiry was established to examine the findings of the Murphy commission, which examined sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

When gardaí working on that inquiry began to examine historical cases, they found the one at the centre of the case was still live.

However, when they approached the victim, the victim produced the allegedly forged correspondence from the DPP suggesting the investigation had been completed and no charges pressed.

The garda is charged with having presented the letter on DPP-headed paper knowing it to be false for the purposes of being accepted as genuine.

The garda is charged under section 28 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act.