Garda partly wins appeal against suspension after relationship with woman in domestic abuse case

Paul Neilan

A garda who began a relationship with a woman while investigating her claim of domestic abuse has been partially successful in appealing a High Court decision to dismiss his challenge against his ongoing suspension.

In 2023, a Garda board of inquiry was set up to investigate allegations of serious breaches of discipline against Gda Keith Harrison, all of which he rejected.

In March 2024 he went to the High Court to challenge the inquiry's procedures. In particular, he objected to the inquiry's refusal to give him prior sight of notes of the woman's interviews and, instead, to have the presenting officer read her statements into the record before any oral testimony or cross-examination.

He lost that challenge at the High Court last May and appealed the matter to the Court of Appeal.

Harrison’s lawyers submitted that he had a right to "test the evidence of any person" and said it was irregular and unfair to have a witness statement read into evidence without permitting the appellant to have sight of the notes of interview.

In a judgment published on Friday, the Court of Appeal said: “Given the centrality of [the woman’s] testimony to the issues that the inquiry was established to decide, on the balance of probabilities, by declining his application for copies of the notes of interview the board placed itself in a position where there was at least a grave risk, if not a certainty, that it would have arrived at a legally unsustainable decision."

The Court of Appeal allowed the quashing of the proceedings of the board of inquiry of November 2023 and the matter was remitted to that body to be determined "in accordance with the law".

The Court of Appeal rejected two other challenges to the High Court ruling, firstly regarding a claim that the seriousness of the allegation against Harrison was reduced when the woman withdrew her complaint of domestic violence.

The court rejected a further complaint that he did not receive sufficient explanations for his ongoing suspensions.

In refusing the High Court challenge last year, Judge Garrett Simons said the essence of the alleged breach of discipline was that it is contrary to the professional duty of care for a garda to engage in a sexual relationship with a person who has made a complaint of domestic abuse to that officer.

The decision not to prosecute the person alleged to have carried out the abuse did "not materially affect any assessment of the seriousness of the alleged breach of discipline", he said.

Professional duty is not necessarily contingent on there being a successful criminal prosecution thereafter, he said.