COUPLE AWARDED €5,000 DAMAGES AFTER ARMED GARDAÍ RAID WEXFORD HOUSE USING BATTERING RAM
BATTERING RAM USED ON DOOR OF BARRACK STREET HOUSE IN SEARCH FOR DANGEROUS CRIMINAL
ARMED gardaí burst into a terraced Wexford house prepared to deal with a dangerous criminal.
Instead they found a middle-aged couple and their grandchild, with no sign of the man whose record of 30 previous convictions included involvement in a murder.
Judge John Cheatle ruled that the State must pick up the tab for damage done to the door at 22 Barrack Street by a garda battering ram.
The court case was taken by house owners David and Yvonne Nolan from Sigginstown, Tomhaggard who were granted a decree for more than €5,000 to cover repairs and loss of rental income.
A civil sitting of the District Court at Ardcavan heard evidence from the Nolans’ tenants, a Mr Jorocki and his partner Ms Kabzinska.
With the assistance of a Polish interpreter, Jorocki told how the couple were drinking tea or coffee in their sitting room on the morning of April 11, 2015.
It was around 8.20 a.m. when they heard a loud bang – ‘ like the sound of a car hitting the wall’.
The door and the frame had been damaged by the garda battering ram but the door remained shut until the tenant opened it.
He quickly found himself on the ground with a gun being pointed at him while officers entered Number 22 and conducted a search.
They discovered no one else present except Ms Kabzinska and the granddaughter who had been sleeping upstairs.
Jorocki reckoned that they remained on the premises for two hours, during which time he was shown pictures of men the gardaí were looking for.
He said he did not know them.
Yvonne Nolan took to the stand to confirm that she owned the house and that she received a call from the tenants on the morning in question. She arrived in Barrack Street to find them very shaken.
She took photographs of the damage and later made a complaint to the garda authorities about the damage caused to the recently fitted door.
The residents later said they felt uncomfortable in the property but decided to stay after their rent was lowered from €95 to €90 per week.
She confirmed that no substantial repairs had been carried out in the meantime, explaining that she and her husband had two loans and a mortgage to repay as well as three children to look after,
The court also heard testimony from Detective Sergeant Shay Keevans, who is based in Dungarvan, County Waterford.
He told how he was investigating a burglary at a butcher’s in Dungarvan which occurred in March of 2015 in which the culprits netted €17,000.
Enquiries led him to believe that a man, referred to in court as ‘ The Subject’, believed to be responsible was staying in Wexford town.
The Subject had a lengthy criminal record which included a conviction in relation to a murder as well as false imprisonment using a knife. The sergeant felt there was a high risk of physical resistance if this individual was located.
A colleague reported seeing The Subject gambling in a Wexford casino one night and then going to a house in Barrack Street.
He told the court that in the light of his previous record, in order to keep officers safe, it was decided to call in four members of the armed regional support unit with their battering ram.
In court, Sergeant Keevans accepted that The Subject was not in the house on the morning of the search but insisted that what occurred was not a case of mistaken identity. ‘ The force used was reasonable,’ he stated.
He told Judge Cheatle that, after he and his team gained entry, Ms Kabzinska first told him that the man they were looking for had stayed there for a while.
She later denied this on the day and she continued to do this when put in the witness box.
The judge noted that the Nolans were entirely innocent in this matter and they had been left with a large bill.
It was clear that gardaí might need to gain fast entry to properties on occasion and he had no issue with how the regional support unit set about their business.
Nevertheless, in this case he was not happy with the evidence available to the court as to how 22 Barrack Street was identified as the property to be raided.
He made out the decree in favour of the plaintiffs and certified the case for the services of barrister Thomas O’Donnell.