Elite gardaí facing watchdog inquiry

Defendant in trial was ‘threatened over his family’

THE Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is investigating top officers following the collapse of a court case.

It comes after a suspect was allegedly told his child would be taken into care if he did not take responsibility for an arms find.

The trial of Lithuanian national Eimantas Valteris, 33, collapsed last year over the allegations against gardaí.

Last week, the High Court heard an application from Gsoc seeking records and transcripts from the trial.

Judge Peter Kelly granted Gsoc access to the transcripts from the 2017 trial.

He told the court that Gsoc is investigating the matter ‘in the public interest’.

He noted the Gsoc application stated that a named garda, in a recorded conversation, ‘might have committed an offence’. He Order: Judge Peter Kelly agreed to the release of the transcript on the basis Gsoc is attempting to ‘conduct a fair and impartial investigation and needs all the information’.

In March last year the trial at the non-jury Special Criminal Court collapsed after it emerged the accused taped a conversation in which gardaí told him his partner would be arrested and his child would go into care if he did not accept responsibility.

Mr Valteris, with an address at Grange Rath, Drogheda, Co. Meath, was arrested by gardaí in 2013 as part of an ongoing operation to counter dissident republicans.

At the Special Criminal Court, Hugh Hartnett SC, defending, introduced the audio of a recorded conversation between Mr Valteris and two gardaí, one of whom was Detective Sergeant Pádraig Boyce of the Special Detective Unit.

Detective Sergeant Boyce accepted under cross-examination from Mr Hartnett he was one of the two gardaí heard in the audio, which was recorded by Mr Valteris when he was arrested.

During the playing of the audio in court, the gardaí were allegedly heard telling Mr Valteris that ‘we’ll look after you’ if he accepted responsibility for three firearms and four silencers. Mr Valteris was told that if he did not accept responsibility, then gardaí would be ‘directed’ to arrest his wife, it is alleged.

‘If you don’t take responsibility, she’ll be next,’ one officer allegedly says in the recording.

Mr Valteris was allegedly told by the gardaí if his partner was arrested then their child would ‘go into care’.

He was told he was ‘digging a hole to put your missus in’ if he wanted ‘to go down that route’, it was claimed.

The gardaí allegedly told Mr Valteris they would ‘have to go to your house now and arrest your partner… She’ll be in custody’.

The gardaí were heard asking Mr Valteris: ‘Have we a deal or no deal… If we don’t [have a deal] I’m going to have to arrest your partner,’ it was alleged.

On the fourth day of the trial last year, Tony McGillicuddy, prosecuting, told the three-judge court the State was not proceeding with the prosecution. Judge Isobel Kennedy ordered that Mr Valteris should be discharged.

‘Digging a hole to put your missus in’