Defendant claims garda ‘attacked’ him in Kildare town
ACCUSATION
A Kildare town resident who appeared in Naas District Court on Thursday, February 9, claimed that a garda assaulted him.
David Walshe, with an address given as 3226 Maryville Grove Melitta Road, Kildare town, made the accusation during his court case, where he was accused of failing to comply with the garda in question's orders, and for allegedly acting abusively towards the garda.
Presiding Judge Michéle Finan was told by a garda that he directed Mr Walshe to move along from the town centre on February 21, 2021, when Covid-19 regulations were still in place.
The garda alleged that shortly after this, Mr Walshe came up to him and began recording him with his phone, and was acting abusively towards him.
It was heard that the 48-year-old has 39 previous convictions, the last of which was in 2016 for a breach of the peace.
CCTV was shown in relation to the second incident, although Judge Finan ruled that it was inadmissible.
Defending barrister Donncha Craddock and Judge Finan also became engaged in a disagreement at one point, in which he claimed that he was not being given a fair chance to cross-examine the garda.
The disagreement became so heated that, at one point, the judge said that she considered recusing herself from the case.
Mr Craddock also claimed that his client was simply making his way to a nearby pharmacy to collect some medicine.
He also took issue with the fact that the arresting garda did not properly inform Mr Walshe of the reason behind his arrest.
The judge agreed with this point, and also said that while she had no problem with Mr Walshe recording the garda on its own, she believed that it was evident that 'a breach of the peace' occurred on the date in question.
Judge Finan struck out the case, with the facts accepted, but requested Mr Walshe to apologise to the garda.
However, Mr Walshe replied: "I won't, no. I do not accept his behaviour, he attacked me at the square," he alleged to Judge Finan before leaving the courtroom.