Former garda to appeal sentence in ‘most dangerous driving’ case
A FORMER member of An Garda Síochána was handed a total of 15 months in prison with 9 suspended after what veteran Judge Gerard Haughton described as ‘the most dangerous driving I’ve come across in all my time on the bench’.
Exactly four years on from the day that the incident occurred, and on the occasion of his 34th birthday, former garda John Bowe sat before the Judge at the District Court, anxiously awaiting judgement on a total of 14 counts of dangerous driving.
Judge Haughton had taken time to consider an appropriate punishment in the case and confessed that he had spent late nights considering all the evidence against Bowe and researching similar cases. Over the course of two previous sittings, evidence was given that Bowe had turned away from a Garda Checkpoint in Bunclody and led gardaí on a lethal high-speed chase that hit speeds of up to 140km/h on winding rural roads around the Bunclody, Clohamon and Ferns areas.
It was heard that the chase lasted some 15 minutes and covered some 30km of rural roads, with several other vehicles forced to take evasive action along the way and sparks seen flying from the defendants wheels he was going so fast.
While Bowe had also been above the legal limit for drink driving and cannabis and a grinder was also found in the car, charges of drink-driving and possession of drugs were struck out after paperwork was not deemed to be in order for the former and a problem in relation to the testing of the cannabis in the latter.
Some strong allegations were also made over the level of force used to apprehend Bowe after he fled from the vehicle and photos were handed into the court depicting a nasty wound to his head and bruising to his legs and feet, which he claimed was the result of being struck several times by gardaí, something strongly denied by both Det Sgt Rory Sheriff and Garda Michael Dee.
When the case came back before the court last week, Judge Haughton gave a brief summary of the evidence given in relation to Bowe’s outrageous driving on the day in question.
‘I’m satisfied that this is the most dangerous driving I’ve come across in all my time on the bench,’ he said. ‘He was determined not to be detected. He says that he turned away from the checkpoint because he had no tax, but not only had he no tax, but he was drink driving and had what he admitted was ‘weed’ in the car.’
‘I do not believe the defendant’s evidence that he was not handcuffed until he got out of the field, as this would be completely out of line with garda procedure. Similarly, I don’t accept the evidence that he was assaulted by other gardaí in the field.’
In relation to photos handed into the court depicting bruising on the defendants legs and feet, Judge Haughton said that they were ‘inadvertently misleading’ and that ‘shadow effect’ when taking the photos attempted to make things look worse.
‘I’m satisfied that the arrest was lawful and no more force was used than necessary,’ he continued. ‘However, whether the arrest was lawful or not has no bearing over the dangerous driving charges as the driving had already taken place. As a former probationer member of An Garda Síochána, he would’ve known the seriousness of the cannabis charge and would have known the seriousness of these dangerous driving charges.’
In making his decision, Judge Haughton drew heavily on the case of the DPP versus Blake Tobin which involved a string of dangerous driving charges in a built up area, but also saw the defendant ram a patrol car.
Having regarded everything, the Judge opted to divide the charges in three. On the first eight charges, arising in the Bunclody area, he handed down five months in prison. For the three charges from the Ferns area, he handed down a further five month sentence to commence on completion of the first. Finally, on the charges from Strahart and Ballypark, he handed Bowe a further five months, to commence on completion of the second sentence.
Having regarded mitigation, the fact that Bowe had no previous convictions, the Judge opted to suspend nine months of the 15, meaning he would serve just six months in prison. He also banned him from driving for seven years.
Finally, Judge Haughton said he wished to address the court on allegations that Bowe had been told that gardaí would ‘go easy’ on him and not to hire Mr Gerry Flynn, who did subsequently represent him in the case.
‘If that happened, that would be grossly out of order,’ he said. ‘This was a very difficult case for Mr Flynn. It’s always difficult to put things to gardaí, particularly some of the allegations that were made in this case. Mr Flynn was there to put forward his client’s case. He’s not there to judge. It’s vital for the proper administration of justice that solicitors like Mr Flynn exist. If the day comes when we don’t have lawyers who are prepared to put a defendant’s case forward like that, we might as well shut down and go home.’
Mr Flynn expressed his sincerest appreciation to Judge Haughton for his closing comments before making a final plea on behalf of his client for the whole sentence to be suspended.
‘This has had a profound impact on Mr Bowe’s life,’ he said. ‘He has a partner and three young children. This happened because of a momentary bad decision on the night of his 30th birthday after he came home from work and had a couple of drinks in the pub. In all circumstances, I’d ask the court to reflect and consider a suspension of the sentence, albeit for a protracted period of time. My client had an impeccable record up to this incident. Again, he has been impeccable in his conduct since the incident. I think I can safely say that he will never come before the criminal courts again.’
Concluding matters, Judge Haughton said: ‘I’m conscious of the fact that the defendant has no previous convictions. Because of this and other mitigating factors, I’ve suspended nine months of the fifteen month sentence already. It was only luck nobody was injured. The gardaí involved said it was the worst driving they had ever come across. It was outrageous. I’m not prepared to go any further. There must be an element of a custodial sentence in a driving case like this.’
Wearing a black suit with a white open-collared shirt, Bowe was then taken into garda custody, albeit on a temporary basis as Mr Flynn outlined their intention to appeal. Bowe’s partner Michelle O’Neill signed as independent surety and Mr Flynn questioned the procedure in obtaining the court’s Digital Audio Recording (DAR) from the case. Judge Haughton told him that the usual procedure would be to request a transcript of the proceedings.
Flanked by his family, Bowe left the court on the occasion of his 34th birthday, pending an appeal at a later date.