Third garda in court to face corruption charges
Officer accused of burglary at flat and falsely imprisoning woman
A THIRD garda has appeared in court to face charges following an anticorruption investigation.
Colum Ryan, 35, with a Co. Meath address, is charged with perverting the course of justice, burglary and false imprisonment of a woman.
He appeared at Dublin District Court yesterday, where he faced five charges for alleged offences in 2021. The officer is accused of creating and printing a search warrant and information on September 30, to pervert the course of public justice, after a search on September 7 at a basement flat at Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1.
It is also alleged that between September 30 and December 8, he procured the signatures of peace commissioner and former Labour Party councillor Steven Wrenn and another named man on the warrant. He is also charged with burglary of the basement flat on September 7, and, on the same date, that he detained a woman against her will at St John’s Road West, Dublin 8.
Detective Sergeant Garda
Kieran Kilcoyne told Judge William Aylmer that the accused was arrested on March 11 at Irishtown Garda Station and ‘made no reply’ when charged. The defendant did not indicate a plea, but his solicitor Elizabeth Hughes said there was consent to an adjournment until May 25 and there was no objection to bail.
Two other gardaí and a peace commissioner have also appeared in court on related charges over the last two weeks. On Wednesday, Mr Wrenn, 50, of Iveragh Road, Whitehall, Dublin, was in court charged with forging warrants to search two properties.
He was granted €200 bail and ordered to appear again on May 7. He is accused of making a false instrument – a search warrant and information – between September 30 and December 29, 2021, for a search carried out at a basement flat at Mountjoy Square on September 7, 2021.
He is also accused of making another false instrument between August 28 and December 20, 2021, a warrant for a search on June 19 at Kenilworth Road, Dublin 6. It is alleged he twice perverted the course of public justice by signing the warrants. On Tuesday, Garda Sergeant Ciaran Whelan, who worked out of Store Street Garda Station in Dublin, was in court charged with seven offences from June 19 until September 27, 2021. Garda Sergeant Whelan, 51, of Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, is accused of false imprisonment of the same woman at St John’s Road West on September 7.
It is alleged he did acts to pervert the course of public justice by making a false report, between August 25 and September 15, to a named Garda superintendent regarding a search of a male’s flat on Kenilworth Road on June 19.
He is charged with burglary at that flat. He is also accused of perverting the course of justice on September 27 by amending data on the Garda Pulse system about two incidents and creating and printing a warrant and information for a search on June 19 at the flat in Kenilworth Road.
It is alleged he created an incident related to that search on the Pulse system, on August 28. He is also charged that on September 7, he trespassed at a basement flat at Mountjoy Square North, Dublin 1, to commit theft.
Last week Garda Mark Duffy, 39, with a Dublin 15 address, appeared in court accused of burglary and doing an act between August 28 and December 20, 2021, intending to pervert the course of justice and. He is alleged to have entered the same Kenilworth Road flat as a trespasser on June 19, 2021, to commit an arrestable offence. Garda Sgt Whelan and Gda Duffy, who have yet to indicate pleas, are due to appear in court again on May 17.
There was no objection to bail