GARDA’S SIX-YEAR BATTLE TO SAVE HER JOB
Damning practices uncovered at station
A FEMALE garda, previously commended for her bravery, is fighting to clear her name after an investigation into her actions triggered the uncovering of a series of damning Garda practices, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Detective Catherine McGowan has been suspended for six years, and colleagues have said she was being hung out to dry for bringing unwanted attention to the widespread failings in the Garda station where she was working.
The MoS has seen an excoriating confidential report outlining systemic management failures at Bray Garda Station, yet Detective McGowan, 48, is
the only garda to face disciplinary action. And now as she fights to have her suspension lifted she still faces disciplinary actions and has already spent thousands of euro on legal costs.
Labour TD Alan Kelly, who intends to bring her case to the Dáil, if it is not resolved, said Det. McGowan suffered ‘professionally, financially and emotionally’ for years, and she must be reinstated immediately.
The detective’s troubles stem from allegations that she failed to properly investigate a clerical-sexabuse case. She was subsequently charged in relation to this and found not guilty.
Colleagues believe that allegation led to an investigation into what went on in Bray Garda station where she worked, and this led to her subsequent treatment.
A confidential Garda report, seen by the MoS, shows that a number of senior gardaí were criticised for many systemic failures at Bray.
After the complaint from the alleged sex abuse victim, then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan sent an inquiry team to Bray, which uncovered a litany of poor practices, missing files and cases not recorded on Pulse.
In December 2012, the Garda Professional Standards Unit (GPSU) carried out an inquiry, later titled ‘Investigation into the Management and Investigation into Criminal Complaints at Bray District’, which criticised management and procedures at that station.
It said: ‘Garda policies were not consistently applied or administered with the Bray District.’ The GPSU report said that ‘in 73% of
The report was damning of management
cases of a sexual crime nature examined, supervisors did not carry out sufficient review of incidents’.
At one stage, 45% of files could not be found when requested by the inquiry team. This number was reduced to 30% after a few more were located.
The operation of the Pulse IT system, which should be used to record all crime, was strongly criticised.
‘The creation, updating and reviewing of Pulse incidents was not consistent across units and sections in the Bray District. There was no system in place to manage this risk,’ it said.
It was damning of management too. It highlighted ‘significant scope for improvement in the supervision by first and second line management’ in three areas – a review of Pulse incidents, a review of members’ notebooks and file review and management.
Despite this Garda McGowan was the only garda to have faced disciplinary action.
However, when she faced a 14-day trial in 2015 on charges of one count of forgery and two counts of using a false instrument, she was found not guilty. She had been accused of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions, directing that no prosecution in an alleged sexual abuse case be sought. But she was acquitted on all three charges by a jury within less than three hours.
Nonetheless, her suspension has now stretched into its sixth year as she was pursued for other alleged disciplinary issues. In fact, Det. McGowan has been the subject of four internal Garda inquiries, an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau into the alleged forged documents, and the criminal inquiry, for which she was acquitted.
And she continues to fight her case – the latest internal inquiry is the subject of judicial review.
In documents seen by the MoS, in March 2016, the then Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan, gave Det. McGowan the option of resigning from the gardaí or being dismissed over four alleged breaches of discipline, all for neglect of duty.
However, a Garda board of inquiry has noted many of Det. McGowan’s commendations throughout her 25-year career, and how she was appointed detective ‘at a very early stage of her service’.
She has been involved in a number of murder cases of note, and in one was intrinsic to the extradition of one person central to that case. Even while on suspension, she appeared in court to give evidence in a case where a 14-year sentence was handed down.
‘Det Garda McGowan has an almost unblemished record when the totality of her service is looked at. She does not shy away from her work and had been very actively involved in her duties,’ a report stated.
Mr Kelly said: ‘I believe that this woman has been wronged and I believe that the way in which she was pursued is wrong. And I believe that natural justice means that An Garda Síochána needs to right those wrongs, needs to allow her to go back to work. They need to look into the way in which she was treated.’
Mr Kelly said he will pursue the matter in Leinster House if natural justice is not provided. He told the
MoS that he has been following this case for some time, and ‘for me it is the case of a woman who has been treated very, very badly’.
He said: ‘This is a female garda, who, up until these events, had an unblemished, very good record serving the people in the various different roles in which she worked. She was well respected, community orientated and she has a very good way of dealing with the public.
‘Following these events she has been left in a very difficult place, this has had an enormous impact on her and her family. It has been very distressing, she has had to fight to clear her name through immense stress and against immense forces she cleared her name.’
Mr Kelly said he believes she must be reinstated immediately. ‘We all know now that there have been issues in an Garda Síochána. For me, this is a case where senior gardaí need to do the right thing. They need to explain why she hasn’t been allowed back to work for the last number of years.
‘There is also a requirement to look at what happened in that garda station at that time. Not alone what happened to her, but the way in which she was pursued. Furthermore, the evidence from his case shows that the manner in which that garda station was run, the way in which the evidence was maintained in the evidence rooms leaves a lot to be desired and lots of questions.’
In July 2011, Det McGowan was served with papers saying she was being investigated for not investigating an allegation of sexual abuse. She was arrested in 2013 and charged with forgery offences, for which she was aquitted. The trial heard that Detective Inspector Frank Keenaghan, Det McGowan’s supervisor, told her that if she ‘admitted wrongdoing’ she would be ‘looked after’. Det. Insp. Keenaghan denied this occurred.
No response was received from An Garda Síochána in response to a detailed list of questions by the MoS regarding this case.