A garda must pay €65,000 to a bouncer whom he assaulted while he was off-duty on a stag night, the High Court has ruled.
Thomas Higgins, stationed in Athlone, Co Westmeath, was ordered to pay the money to Domonikos Kalman Racz for injuries suffered by Mr Racz in the incident in MOJO’s nightclub in the Castlecourt Hotel, Wesport, Co Mayo, on the night of November 11th/12th, 2011.
Ms Justice Caroline Costello found Mr Higgins kicked and punched Mr Racz who was trying to restrain an “aggressive” Mr Higgins on the night.
She dismissed a separate action by Mr Higgins against the Castlecourt in which Mr Higgins claimed it was he who was assaulted and injured.
While she was concerned about the level of Mr Higgins’ injuries, she could not, after due consideration, find the hotel was responsible. The injuries were inflicted on him while staff were trying to manage an increasingly violent incident.
“The violence was of Mr Higgins’ own making and at all stages he was the aggressor and increased the level of violence,” she said.
Worry
The judge said Mr Racz (40) had lived happily in Westport for five years before the incident but felt he had to leave with his wife and child because of worry that a garda could behave in this fashion in light of his experience with police in his native country, the judge said
The judge believed Mr Racz when he described the anxiety and worrying he experienced when he heard Mr Higgins was a member of the Garda.
“What can be described as a flight from Ireland is an eloquent testimony to the reality and gravity of his fear”, she said.
The court heard Mr Higgins travelled to Westport with two friends for a stag party. After spending the evening watching an international football match in a pub, and going to two other pubs, they ended up in MOJO’s just before midnight.
Mr Racz, a licenced door security person, intervened earlier to stop two groups, including that of Mr Higgins, pushing each other.
Later, Mr Higgins went on to the dancefloor where he was pushing young lads and later jumping up on the bar counter, he said.
Concerned by his behaviour, Mr Racz and the head of security took Mr Higgins by the arms down a stairs to the lobby.
Mr Higgins was shouting and claiming they were hurting his arm.
Mr Racz denied punching him while bringing him downstairs.
Kicked
Mr Higgins tried to go back up to the nightclub and at that stage he kicked and punched Mr Racz.
Mr Racz said that, during this, Mr Higgins was shouting abusively and saying: “You don’t know who I am”.
Gardaí arrived and handcuffed Mr Higgins.
The judge said CCTV footage showed Mr Higgins aggressively lashing out at Mr Racz with kicks and punches and hitting his head against the door.
In a statement to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, which investigated the matter, Mr Higgins said he remembered being grabbed from behind and his right arm wrenched upwards.
He also said he got boxes to his head and face and felt something, like a knuckleduster or ring, striking his cheek. He also claimed he was kicked in the chest, dragged down steps and had his head banged off a handrail.
When CCTV was shown to him, he was unable to identify himself, something which was “particularly remarkable”, the judge said, as everyone else who saw the footage could identify him and one of his companions.
She did not accept submissions on Mr Higgins’ behalf he was doing nothing wrong or was removed with excessive force.