A DUBLIN man has told a trial that he was beaten with batons and kicked in the face by gardaí who came into his bedroom.
Eoin Gaffney (21) told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that one garda held his mother back while the others struck him “from every angle”.
Gardaí Seán O’Leary, Eoin Murtagh, Alan Conlon and Claire Delaney have pleaded not guilty to forcing entry to a premises at Basin Street Upper, entering as a trespasser and assaulting Mr Gaffney on February 17th, 2008.
Garda Murtagh, Garda Conlon and Garda Delaney have also pleaded not guilty to the false imprisonment of Fidelma Gaffney.
Garda O’Leary, Garda Murtagh and Garda Delaney are based at Kilmainham station and Garda Conlon is based at Kevin Street.
Mr Gaffney agreed that he had been in trouble with gardaí before and “has a good number of convictions”. He told Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, that he was playing a football match on the day and afterwards went home to bed.
When he awoke, Garda O’Leary was standing over his bed with a baton in his hand and other gardaí were standing around the bed. He knew Garda O’Leary because “he was always around my area”. Mr Gaffney said he looked straight at Garda O’Leary who then hit him on the head with his baton. Garda Murtagh also went to hit him with a baton but he blocked it. He then started getting hit “from all over the place, from every angle”.
He said he was “smashed” into the wall and into a wooden bedpost. He saw his mother in the room shouting, screaming and trying to help him. He said a garda grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against a mirror before she was taken out of the room.
Mr Gaffney said he was taken to the other side of the room while “half knocked out” and sat down on a sofa. He said a garda told him “three seconds”, then Garda Murtagh kicked him in the face.
He said the gardaí then ran out and his mother came in screaming. Mr Gaffney said he suffered a swollen nose and lip, cuts, bruises and bumps to the head. He was taken to St James’s Hospital and later contacted the Garda Ombudsman.
The trial continues before Judge Desmond Hogan and a jury.