A serving garda used the Pulse system to find and print documents that he alleged were being concealed from the High Court and from his partner, who is taking a case against the force alleging a breach of her constitutional rights.
The High Court is hearing a case taken by Sinead Warren, who was at an address in Dublin 8, in September 2016, when gardaí searched the apartment on foot of a warrant and found her with her long-term partner, Det Garda Joseph Kavanagh.
Lawyers for Warren submit that the search of her home was a “ruse” designed to interfere in her personal life and her relationship with Kavanagh.
At the High Court on Tuesday, Kavanagh told Mark Harty, barrister for Warren, that it was part of his job to investigate wrongdoing. He said he accessed the Pulse system to print out draft information sheets used to compile the search warrant application that had not been disclosed. He said he gave the sheets to Warren’s legal team.
READ MORE
Kavanagh said he believed that there had been “an effort to conceal evidence from the court” by the defendants.
He said he was not “just nosing around”, as suggested by the defence, and that he had seen similar efforts in the last 10 years to keep information from the courts in a “dishonest” manner.
Conor Power, barrister for the defendants, said the “sensitive” documents had been unlawfully acquired by Kavanagh, were the property of the Garda Commissioner, were “tainted by illegality” and were in breach of data protection.
Harty said that the issue of accessing Pulse may be a Garda disciplinary matter, but was not one for the courts. Judge Micheál O’Connell initially described the introduction of the documents as an “ambush”, but allowed Harty’s application to have them included in the case on grounds of fairness.
Harty said he would be writing to the Office of the Attorney General for guidelines regarding gardaí allegedly being given “extraordinary” instructions to prevent evidence being introduced that could test witness credibility.
Warren has taken her case against the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, the Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General seeking damages for interference and breach of her constitutional rights, negligence, breach of duty, misfeasance and deceit.
Warren alleges that following the search, messages circulating on WhatsApp that could only have originated from people involved in or close to the search said Kavanagh had been “caught in the scratcher” with “a gouger”.
It was accepted by gardaí in court that Warren is known as a person of “impeccable character” who has never been involved in criminality, nor does she associate with criminals.
Warren’s brothers, Paul and Christopher, were shot dead in Dublin in 2004 and 2012 respectively.
The judge has been told by retired detective sergeant Mark Kelly that the September 2016 warrant was issued for the investigation of a burglary in Dublin. He said it did not involve Warren or Kavanagh, but both were present at the address when three armed and three unarmed gardaí arrived looking for a pair of yellow shorts believed to be connected with the burglary.
The trial continues next week.
