€25k compo for garda left with ‘snoring issues’
A former Enniscorthy garda sergeant, now based in Gorey, has been awarded a total of €25,000 in compensation after his nose was broken with a head-butt, resulting in him having to move into the spare room at home because of snoring issues.
The case, which took place in the High Court last week, arose from an incident in May of 2012 which saw Det Sgt Noel McSweeney’s nose broke by a teenage girl at Enniscorthy Garda Station as she was being returned to the care of the HSE. The sergeant told the garda compensation hearing that his snoring had affected his wife more than it did him and he had to move into the spare room ‘on a couple of occasions’.
At the hearing, Sgt McSweeney told Barrister Eileen Gleeson, who appeared for him with solicitor Ernest Cantillon, that on the night his injuries were sustained, the woman had been found in an extremely intoxicated and aggressive state in a car in which there had been drugs. She was subsequently taken into custody.
‘She jumped back and threw her head backwards, hitting me in the nose and upper teeth,’ Sgt McSweeney said.
He said he had fractures to four of his upper front teeth and the line of his nose had been knocked slightly off. He suffered a deviated septum which had resulted in a restriction of the airflow through his nose.
‘The appearance of my nose wasn’t upsetting to me so I decided not to have surgery correcting it,’ he said.’ Perhaps if I was a model it would be different’.
Sergeant McSweeney said he had been reviewed six months after the incident and had told his doctor about his snoring problem.
‘I wasn’t aware of it but I did have to sleep in the spare room on a couple of occasions,’ he said.
McSweeney told William Maher, counsel for the State, that he had only slight discomfort with the airflow in his nose. He had decided against surgery after having been told that surgery would be required only for cosmetic reasons.
Judge Twomey, who has been appointed to deal with the Garda Compensation List and had been hearing such cases for the first time, said the Book of Quantum suggested damages of €7,500 for minor dental damage and he would add to this €18,000 compensation for the injury to Sergeant McSweeney’s nose.
He awarded total damages of €25,500 and costs against the State.