A MAN who claims he was assaulted by two gardaí in Co Meath has told Trim Circuit Court he thought he was going to lose his life during the incident.
Sgt Michael Jordan and Garda Alan Coates, who are based at Ashbourne Garda station, have pleaded not guilty to assaulting William Shiels causing him harm contrary to section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act at Tara Lawns, Ashbourne, in April 2009.
The court heard a number of gardaí had called to Mr Shiels’s home about 11.30pm that night to arrest another man in connection with an assault on a woman in a nearby laneway.
Mr Shiels said he refused to let them in as they said they had no warrant but after he had spoken to the other man, he invited them in and asked them to arrest the man, which they did.
He said that about midnight he was upstairs lying on a bed watching TV when he heard “an unmerciful bang” at the front door and went down to investigate.
He told prosecuting counsel Paul Greene SC, that Sgt Jordan and Garda Coates, who were standing in the hallway, ran up the stairs, grabbed him by the arms, dragged him down to the hall and beat him.
He claimed Sgt Jordan had kicked and punched him for about 10 to 15 minutes while Garda Coates held him down.
He said that during the incident the sergeant had said “do you realise that a woman was raped in Ashbourne this night?”.
The gardaí left the house after the beating and Mr Shiels said he had walked to Ashbourne Garda station at 1am to report the incident.
Later that day he made a complaint to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and following an investigation by the commission, the matter was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The trial before a jury of three men and nine women continues today.