Gavin O’Reilly (42) today had the charge struck out, leaving him without a criminal record over the incident.
Judge John Hughes said he found O’Reilly’s offending to be at the “lower end” and he had already been “dragged over the coals” over an assault allegation that proved to be “baseless.”
The judge took account of a “significant” €1,000 charity donation handed in to court by the accused.
O’Reilly was found guilty last month of causing a breach of the peace while he was off duty on a night out at Pennylane pub, Strand Street Great on August 26, 2023. He was acquitted of assaulting the manager, Emma Parks, during the incident. O’Reilly had denied both charges.
The case was back before Dublin Dublin District Court this afternoon for the judge to decide on a penalty.
Defence barrister Garnet Orange SC asked the judge to dismiss the charge, saying otherwise, the potential consequences for O’Reilly “far outweigh the gravity of the situation in circumstances where he can be disciplined, reduced in rank, dismissed or compelled to take retirement.”
It would be “utterly disproportionate” to the offence he had been found guilty of, Mr Orange said.
During the non-jury trial, Ms Parks alleged that after O’Reilly was asked to leave the pub, he returned and threatened he would “get the place shut down” and called a doorman a “black bastard.”
The judge did not accept any of this took place and found the accused guilty only of getting too close to Ms Parks and aggressively pointing at her.
“Had he not stood so close to Ms Parks and not towered above her and gesticulated as he did, I could have put it down to just finger-wagging and nothing more,” the judge said.
He said O’Reilly had been “dragged over the coals” for three days on an assault charge that the court found to be “baseless.” Ms Parks had alleged the accused assaulted her by swiping the phone from her hand while she was filming him.
The judge said the accused had been asked to leave a pub for allegedly being heavily intoxicated and boisterous but there was “simply no evidence” of that on the CCTV.
He was seen to be pushed and pulled down the street by the manageress and a doorman. She had put her hand on his chest and he was “walked backwards with a camera shoved in his face.”
He was physically brought to the ground by door staff who both said the manageress had “escalated the situation and deliberately tried to provoke” the accused. She proceeded to “photograph him in a humiliating manner.”
Ms Parks had said on a 999 call that O’Reilly was “lashing out at her” but no such action was seen to take place and this was “window dressing” or “stage managed,” the judge said.
His arrest was unlawful as O’Reilly did not get in the arresting garda’s face, as had been claimed, while the court also found he was wrongfully handcuffed and detained.
“Supt O’Reilly has suffered professional difficulties arising from the charge of assault, and no doubt public odium connected to his senior position in An Garda Siochana,” the judge said.
He was already acquitted of the assault charge. The judge struck out the breach of the peace charge after O’Reilly donated €1,000 to a school building charity in Africa.
As “an aside”, the judge said Section 110 of An Garda Siochana Act, provided for the prosecution of those found to provide false or misleading information in an investigation.
Garda Supt Gavin O Reilly pictured arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice
News in 90 Seconds, Wednesday, October 8