‘Callinan told TD I abused my children’ – McCabe
Whistleblower breaks down as he recalls totally untrue claims
FORMER Garda commissioner Martin Callinan told a TD that Sergeant Maurice McCabe was ‘not to be trusted’ and – utterly wrongly – he had ‘sexually abused’ his own children and his nieces, the Disclosures Tribunal has heard.
The whistleblower broke down as he repeated what he had heard.
Sgt McCabe said in May 2016 he met John McGuinness TD, who was then the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee which had been probing his penalty point complaints.
He recalled that Mr McGuinness met him in a Dublin hotel, and said: ‘I have to tell you this.’
Sgt McCabe continued: ‘He told me that he had met with Garda commissioner Martin Callinan at the Red Cow [hotel], and that he said that I wasn’t to be trusted, and that I had sexually abused all my children and my nieces... He also said he had grabbed his arm as he was getting out of the car and said, “It’s serious, very serious”.’
The tribunal heard the Callinan meeting was held in the hotel’s car park. Mr McGuinness had added that he had not wanted to tell Sgt McCabe what had happened before that point in time. He said it was Mr Callinan who had sought the meeting.
Tribunal counsel Patrick Marrinan asked him if he could believe what he was hearing from Mr McGuinness. Sgt McCabe said he could not. He said he drove home, told his wife and called his counsel, Michael McDowell SC, who said to leave it with him.
Led by Judge Peter Charleton, the tribunal has been set up to establish if there was a deliberate plot by senior gardaí to discredit Sgt McCabe, following his exposure of alleged malpractice, including the wiping of penalty
‘He said I wasn’t to be trusted’
points. Sgt McCabe earlier said he believed a historic allegation of sexual abuse resurfaced as ‘payback’ for his whistleblowing about penalty points.
He told the tribunal yesterday: ‘It was awful. I had been cleared. I should have been left alone.’ And he said: ‘If I could do it over again, I would not have highlighted penalty points because it was at that stage when I started to get all the hassle.’
He recalled that Martin Callinan had described whistleblowers as ‘disgusting’ in a comment to the Public Accounts Committee in January 2014. Sgt McCabe said: ‘I think after that comment, the floodgates were opened. It was hard to take. It was extremely hard to take.’
Judge Charleton heard Sgt McCabe had first contacted the Minister for Transport about fixed charge penalty notices in October 2012. In June 2014, following investigations, his claims resulted in individual gardaí losing the discretion to cancel points, in favour of a centralised office set up to process termination requests.
In April 2014, an article was published by journalist Paul Williams which stated that a young woman had been sexually abused by a serving garda, and that it had been covered up by a ‘botched Garda operation’.
The tribunal has already heard that in December 2006, a complaint was made against Sgt McCabe by a Ms D, who was a child at the time of the alleged assault.
A Garda investigation was carried out, and the DPP exonerated him in March 2007.
When he saw the article in 2014, which did not name the garda involved, Sgt McCabe said: ‘I knew exactly who he was pointing at. He was pointing at me.’
Patrick Marrinan SC asked: ‘Did you think it strange, that at the height of your involvement in the [penalty points] matter, that this matter should resurface?’
Sgt McCabe replied: ‘Yeah, I did. I knew, I can’t prove it, but I knew it was in relation to what I was doing in relation to penalty points.’ Counsel asked: ‘Was this to stop you in your tracks?’
‘Yeah, or payback, something like that. But it was hurtful,’ Sgt McCabe said, adding he was unaware the allegations were still being discussed by the HSE in 2007, and that the principal social worker was recommending the closure of the case, stating the allegations were inconclusive, but this was not done.
He said it was ‘horrific’ to get a letter from Tusla on January 5, 2016, with an incorrect allegation of abuse which was far more serious than Ms D’s original complaint.
His lawyers wrote to Tusla, saying the allegations were untrue. ‘It wasn’t until six months later that they admitted an error,’ said Sgt McCabe.
Sgt McCabe is giving his evidence to the Tribunal for the first time.