A Dublin-based garda has been found guilty of attacking a man who told a court he was “taking selfies” rather than photographing or recording the off-duty detective and his colleagues during a night out.
Garda Robert Hennessy pleaded not guilty to assaulting Michael Finnegan (40), from Crumlin, who was repeatedly punched in the face at Café en Seine on Dawson Street on December 11th, 2019. The incident was captured on the bar’s security camera system.
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Hennessy, who works in a specialist unit doing surveillance work, was prosecuted at Dublin District Court following a Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) investigation. He did not testify, but told Gsoc he was stressed and feared Mr Finnegan would “out them”.
“It was not the law of the schoolyard or the jungle, and you cannot punch someone four or five times in the head whether you are an intelligence officer or not,” prosecution counsel Diarmuid Collins submitted to Judge John Hughes.
The judge noted Mr Finnegan catalogued his life through photos which he uploads to social media and said he believed he was surreptitiously observing the gardaí and using his phone to take pictures or videos of them. He noted a barman’s evidence that Mr Finnegan was “more than tipsy”.
The judge said Hennessy was anxious about being photographed on a night out, which could have caused him professional embarrassment or threatened his security, but added that the relevant circumstances did not arise for a case of self-defence, and he could not attack someone for taking photos.
He convicted Hennessy and noted that Mr Finnegan had told Gsoc he did not want the detective to lose his job. Sentencing was adjourned until February 6th.