GARDA ASSAULT CASE:ARMCHAIR FANS of film and television courtroom dramas may well be accustomed to sudden twists and turns but yesterday's events at Cork Circuit Criminal Court proved that, for once, courtroom reality can be every bit as dramatic as fictionalised events on screen.
Whatever about the subtleties of the legal issues involved, the impact of Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin’s decision to revise his sentence on Garda Dean Foley (25) was dramatic on both the Bantry-based officer and his highly relieved family.
On Thursday, Foley had broken down in the witness box as he recalled how “one moment of madness” when he assaulted Stephen Murphy had cost him the career that he had pursued since he was 19 and applied to join An Garda Síochána.
Foley himself had appeared stoical when the judge announced that he believed a custodial sentence was necessary and effectively jailed him for six months, but the sentence prompted scenes of near-hysteria among his family in the public gallery.
The cries of shock from Foley’s mother as she collapsed in a tearful heap rent the usually reverential atmosphere of the Victorian courtroom on Washington Street, while others in the family sobbed uncontrollably as Foley was led away down to the cells.
Fast-forward 24 hours and there were again tears but this time they were tears of relief as Foley, with one day of his 18-month sentence served, stepped down from the dock a free man to be embraced by his family who flooded down from the public gallery.
Foley, who had previously been remanded in custody over lunchhour on the first day that the case was listed and had described that experience as “terrifying”, simply looked relieved and grateful as he nodded in agreement when he was bound to the peace for 18 months.
The injured party in the case, Stephen Murphy, had not attended the sentencing hearing on Thursday but, in a letter sent to the court, had indicated that he had no particular wish to see Foley jailed and was happy for the court to decide on the appropriate penalty.
Mr Murphy was not present yesterday but several officers from the Garda Ombudsman Commission who had investigated the assault were present and, as is their custom, betrayed as little reaction to the revised penalty as they had to the original sentence.
Given the case was the first to be investigated by the commission to result in a custodial sentence for a garda when Judge Ó Donnabháin imposed sentence on Thursday, the case almost inevitably became destined to garner a certain level of media attention.
But even on Thursday evening, few could have predicted yesterday’s dramatic development, which has guaranteed yet further scrutiny of the case and guaranteed Dean Foley even greater publicity than he would ever have wished for.
It is understood that Foley last night tendered his resignation to the Garda Commissioner and that it was accepted, with his resignation coming into effect immediately.
From today, he may well be a free man but he is no longer a member of the force he had long hoped to serve.
