Courts / Ireland / Report
Historic allegation against McCabe not added to O'Higgins commission after review of garda files
2018-01-29
Hearing Or Decision
Summary
An independent review considered adding a 2006 sexual‑assault complaint by Miss D against whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe to the O'Higgins Commission's terms of reference but, after examining Garda investigation files, decided not to. The complaint had led the Director of Public Prosecutions to direct no prosecution because no evidence of a crime existed. The review, part of an Independent Review Mechanism set up after the 2014 Guerin Report, involved senior and junior counsel who examined the case documents. They concluded that including the Miss D allegation would have been problematic, potentially putting McCabe in a quasi‑defendant position and undermining the integrity of the investigation. Consequently, the terms of reference remained largely as recommended by Sean Guerin, with only minor technical differences, and the Miss D case was excluded from the Commission's remit.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Historic allegation against McCabe not added to O'Higgins commission after review of garda files. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision
When:
- 15 May 2015 Other
- 2018-01-29 Publication
Topics
Stage Hearing Or Decision Violent Crime
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