Three gardaí appear in court charged with perverting course of justice

Thu, 12 Sep, 2024 - 17:30

David Raleigh

Three serving gardaí have appeared in court charged in connection with an investigation surrounding the alleged squaring away of Fixed Charge Notices.

The probe is being led by detectives attached to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The three accused, Garda Peter O’Donnell (51), Garda Paul Baynham (35) and Garda Niall Deegan (49), all serving in the Limerick Garda Division, were arrested and cautioned at Mayorstone Garda Station in Limerick on Tuesday.

All were remanded on station bail to appear before Limerick District Court on Thursday.

The three accused, who were each represented by Liz Hughes of Hughes Murphy Solicitors, sat alone in the courtroom dock as each of their cases were called.

The accused were charged with a total of 33 counts that, while serving as a member of An Garda Síochána, they communicated with other gardaí in a manner which had a tendency or was intended to pervert the course of public justice, on dates between 2017 and 2019.

Garda O’Donnell, who was arrested and charged at 7pm on Tuesday, is accused of 14 separate counts under the legislation.

Garda Baynham, who was arrested 6:27pm on the same date, is charged with 10 separate counts under the legislation.

Garda Deegan, who was arrested and charged at 6:02pm on the same date, is charged with nine separate counts under the legislation.

Detective Inspector Mark Waters gave evidence in court that he arrested and charged each of the three accused gardaí and that each “made no reply” to the charges.

Det Insp Waters told the court that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had directed that all three accused face a trial on indictment at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.

None of the three accused spoke during Thursday’s hearing and details of their cases were not heard.

Judge Patricia Harney remanded the three accused on continuing bail, and adjourned the matter to Limerick District Court on October 24th for service of the State’s books of evidence.