Two men have been acquitted of assaulting and endangering the life of a garda as the officer hung out of the passenger window of the vehicle as it reversed at speed.
Garda Conor Murray had told the trial of Jonathan Coelho (29), the driver, and Federico Carvalho (31), who was a passenger in the car, that the two men repeatedly struck him as he struggled to prevent himself being thrown out of the car.
The jury took 18 minutes to return the unanimous verdict on Monday, the fifth day of the trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court ).
Coelho, of Duleek, Co Meath, and Mr Carvalho, of Blessington Street, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to charges of assault causing harm to Garda Murray of July 31th, 2019 at St Lukes’ Avenue, Dublin 8.
Coelho had pleaded guilty to a number of charges of dangerous driving. He admitted driving at speed through red lights and in the wrong direction along busy streets in Dublin city centre before crashing into a lamp post. He denied a charge of endangerment by dragging Garda Murray in through the passenger window.
The jury retired on Monday following a charge by Judge Melanie Greally.
The courtroom was vacated to allow the jurors to deliberate within the body of the court to allow for social distancing.
Judge Greally thanked the members of the jury for acting as jurors “at this time” and said she wished them all well.
She discharged Mr Carvalho from the indictment and told him he was “free to go”.
Keith Spencer BL, defending, said his client, Coelho, had been on remanded in custody since the date of the offence in July last year, after his bail was refused because he was considered “a flight risk”.
He asked for an early sentence date on the dangerous driving charges that his client had already pleaded guilty to.
Judge Greally adjourned the case to next Friday for sentence and remanded Coelho in custody until that date. She acknowledged that he has now spent over a year in jail on the charges.
During the trial, the jury heard the car was stopped at red lights when a garda car flashed its lights. The car then broke the red lights and during a high speed chase drove dangerously around the city streets before crashing into a lamp post.
In his interview, Coelho said that he did not stop the car for gardaí because he had no insurance.
Garda Murray said he was pulling the passenger from the car when the driver started the car again and began reversing. He said he had to run along the side of the car to prevent being dragged under the car.
“The passenger and driver pulled me half way in to the vehicle,” he said. His upper body was inside the car and the passenger put his head in a head lock, Garda Murray said.
Kicked in face
Garda Murray told the jury that while hanging half way out of the moving car, he managed to pull up the handbrake and slow the vehicle. He said Mr Carvalho then opened his door and both men tried to throw the garda from the vehicle.
He said he managed to wrestle himself away from the passenger and the passenger exited the car.
Garda Murray said the driver began repeatedly kicking him as he held on to the door frame. He said the driver gave him a final kick struck his face and he was thrown from the car.
In his interview, Mr Carvalho, who was getting a lift home, said that he repeatedly told the driver to stop the car. He said he was terrified and was holding on. He said when the car crashed, a garda used a baton to break the passenger window before jumping in through the window.
He said the garda was struggling with the driver. He denied hitting the garda and said he would never hurt anybody.
In her closing speech, Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, told the jury that Garda Murray was a reliable truthful and honest witness whose evidence did not change under cross examination.
She suggested to the jury that the evidence of the gardaí and the CCTV footage established all ingredients of the offences and both men were guilty of the charges.
Keith Spencer BL, defending Coelho, said it was not possible, physically or mechanically, that his client could have taken his foot from the clutch and executed a sideways kick to Garda Murray’s face that led to him falling from the car, while keeping the other foot on the accelerator.
He said his client’s stated intention was to flee and it made no sense that he would pull a garda into the car. He said it was quite clear Garda Murray had “propelled” himself into the car with the intention of making an arrest.
Oisin Clarke BL, defending Mr Carvalho, said his client had a “very very bad night” thinking he was getting a lift home with Coelho, whom he had met one week earlier and had been “an innocent participant in something that had gone horribly wrong”.
He said there had been “a couple of seconds of utter commotion” before Mr Carvalho got out of the car at the first opportunity without assaulting the garda.