Gavin O’Reilly (42) had been accused of racially abusing a bouncer and aggressively smacking the manager’s phone from her hand
Gavin O’Reilly (42) had been accused of racially abusing a bouncer and aggressively smacking the manager’s phone from her hand as she recorded him.
A judge today dismissed the assault charge but found the public order offence proven “in limited circumstances,” though he did not accept that the racial abuse or other alleged threats happened.
Supt O’Reilly, who was off duty and on a night out with friends at the time of the confrontation had denied all the allegations in a non-jury trial at Dublin District Court.
Judge John Hughes adjourned finalisation of the case to hear submissions on a penalty next month.
Mr O’Reilly pleaded not guilty to assaulting Emma Parks and engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour outside Pennylane pub, Strand Street Great on August 26, 2023. The prosecution had been brought by the DPP on behalf of the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission, now Fiosrú.
Gda Supt Gavin O’Reilly
During the three-day trial, Ms Parks had said she asked O’Reilly and his friends to leave the pub to get a “bite to eat” because she believed they had too much to drink, and they went with “no animosity.”
She alleged O’Reilly came back shortly after and “got in my face,” with his teeth bared and fists clenched, threatening she was “never going to work again,” and he would “get the place shut down.”
She said he told her his name, that he was a garda superintendent and that he knew the owner.
Doorman Marcos Peter Inacio alleged that when he intervened and put his hand on his shoulder, O’Reilly said “get your hand off me you black bastard.”
Ms Parks said she did not believe O’Reilly was a garda or a superintendent, but told him this was “disgusting language.”
She said she took out her phone to record him and had it at her chest when he slapped it out of her hand, swiping downwards and it hit against her finger.
Mr Inacio and another bouncer brought him to the ground and restrained him.
Emma Parks. Photo: Tom Tuite
An arresting garda claimed O’Reilly had threatened to sue him and that he would lose his job.
In his decision, Judge Hughes said he found that O’Reilly’s arrest was not lawful so he excluded garda evidence of anything that took place after it.
On the alleged assault, he said the two doormen had accepted in evidence that Ms Parks had provoked O’Reilly and “escalated matters” by putting her phone into his face. “It’s clear from the CCTV that she stuck her phone into his face, she put her hand on his chest and walked him backward with the phone in his face,” the judge said.
The judge believed she was in “no fear whatsoever” when she rang 999 in a “window dressing exercise.” Her description to the operator of what was happening, including an “audacious claim” that O’Reilly was lashing out, was “fabricated to make it sound like it was more serious than it was.”
He said he did not find Ms Parks a credible witness and had significant doubts over her evidence.
He said the breach of the peace allegations related to the accused’s behaviour from the time he returned to the pub until his arrest, including alleged aggressive and violent behaviour, shouted abuse, threats and foul language.
He did not accept evidence that O’Reilly used racial insults towards Mr Inacio “or anyone” because of inconsistencies in the witnesses’ evidence.
CCTV showed O’Reilly was pulled off his feet and did not follow Ms Parks, as she said.
The second bouncer, Osmar Fontes, had accepted he “overreacted” in putting the accused to the ground.
However, Judge Hughes said CCTV showed when the accused re-entered the premises he was walking at speed and Ms Parks recoiled on being confronted.
CCTV showed him standing very close to her and the footage was consistent with evidence that his demeanour was “annoyed”. He also “pointed aggressively with his finger proximate to her”.
The judge said a breach of the peace could include actions and words “that are likely to produce violence in others” and “it did, that is evidenced by the actions of Ms Parks.”
The case had adverse consequences for O’Reilly who was “deeply upset by what happened” and was “sorry he didn’t just walk away,” his barrister Garnet Orange SC said. O’Reilly had 21 years of service with the gardai including the last three as a superintendent.
He had no prior convictions and Mr Orange asked the judge to strike the public order charge out if he makes a substantial payment to charity. The judge asked what effect it would have on O’Reilly’s career if he applied the Probation Act instead.
Mr Orange said this would still be a “black mark”. The judge asked prosecutor John Griffin BL to clarify this on the next date, October 8