Man claims he was stripped naked by gardaí in holding cell
Portloaise Courthouse
A LOCAL man claimed that he was stripped naked by gardaí while being searched in a cell at Portlaoise Garda Station following his arrest for engaging in disorderly conduct.
Liam Gavin, 42 Buttercup Avenue, Esker Hills, Portlaoise was charged with the offence, which is alleged to have taken place on 4 December 2023 at SuperValu, Lyster Square, Portlaoise.
Giving evidence, 31-year-old Mr Gavin said that on the day in question he had been collecting his job seeker’s allowance in the nearby post office.
He said: “When I came out, I met two people begging outside the €2 shop and gave them a €5 note. I walked away from them and across the road into SuperValu. When I went to pay for my stuff at the till, two gardaí came up to me and said that they wanted to speak to me and I said okay. I was in the queue for the till. There were about three people in front of me and two behind me.
“One said: ‘we tried to do this the easy way, now we’ll do it the hard way.’ They took me to the garda car. I was confused. I didn’t know why they were doing this to me. I was really embarrassed by it. One of the guards said that she had observed a suspicious transaction outside the €2 shop.
Sergeant JJ Kirby put it to Mr Gavin that he told the gardaí in the shop that he wasn’t going anywhere with them, which he refuted.
“I didn’t say that. I’m 100% certain that I didn’t. I get on well with the gardaí,” he said.
Sgt Kirby stated: “She (garda) said that she asked you for your name and alleges that you said to her, ‘I’m not giving you my f**king name’.”
Mr Gavin said he had been in the shop for about 30 seconds when he was approached by the two gardaí and then taken to Portlaoise Garda Station. He said that he told the two gardaí that he knew local gardaí.
He said: “The beggars that I had handed the €5 to came back and handed it back to me through the garda car window.” He said: “I was strip-searched in the cell and they found no narcotics on me. I don’t do narcotics. I was stripped down naked.”
Judge Andrew Cody said there was evidence stating that one of the people he had given the €5 to was a convicted drug dealer.
Sgt Kirby asked Mr Gavin if he had ever been convicted of drug offences, to which he replied: “I was a known drug user up to about three years ago, but I now stay away from them. I don’t go near them anymore.” Sgt Kirby pointed out that Mr Gavin had previous convictions for drugs, burglary and public order offences.
“I done my time for them. I have a past, but most guards know that I’ve moved on, that I’ve grown up,” replied Mr Gavin.
Mr Gavin said he knows the two people he gave the money to: “They were drug users, but they have been clean for the past four years. The two of them are sober.”
Sgt Kirby put it to Mr Gavin: “You came out of the post office. The guards saw you engaging in a suspicious activity and you have a history of drugs.” “You lost it in the shop,” said Sgt Kirby, “you told the guards that you were not going anywhere with them. You caused a scene and committed a public order offence. Whatever happened at the garda station, the gardaí were entitled to search you.”
Mr Gavin’s solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said that a number of CCTV cameras are positioned around the supermarket and that it was up to the gardaí to obtain the CCTV coverage, which could have been used as independent evidence of what took place in the shop, but the guards had failed to bring that evidence to court.
She said that Mr Gavin was entitled to be given the benefit of the doubt in the case.
Judge Cody said that he had previously heard evidence from the arresting garda that she had observed suspicious activity taking place at the time, and that suspicion did not centre on Mr Gavin.
He said that he was at a loss to understand why the arresting garda could not have waited until Mr Gavin had come out of the shop before approaching him.
Judge Cody went on to apply the Probation Act in the case.
