Courts / Louth / Report

Man claims he wrongfully spent 10 days in jail after Garda mix-up

Date
2021-11-16

Stage
Charge Or Pretrial

Primary locality
Drogheda

County
Louth

Summary

Joseph Connor, 34, from Drogheda, claims he was wrongfully imprisoned for ten days after Gardaí mistakenly merged his PULSE profile with that of another person named Joseph O'Connor. Connor was arrested on 19 July 2021 for an alleged public order offence and told by Gardaí that a live bench warrant existed for him. He denied any such warrant. The District Court, misinformed, remanded him in custody with a €250 surety requirement he could not meet, leading to his detention at Cloverhill Prison until 29 July 2021 when he secured the surety. Connor's High Court counsel, Micheál O'Higgins SC, argued the warrant belonged to the other Joseph O'Connor, and that Gardaí admitted the error when his case returned in September. Connor has filed judicial review proceedings against the Garda Commissioner and the Governor of Cloverhill, seeking damages, declarations of rights breaches, an apology, and the quashing of the remand order.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Man claims he wrongfully spent 10 days in jail after Garda mix-up. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial

When:

July 19th Incident
July 29th Adjournment
July 19th 2021 Incident
2021-11-16 Publication

Case subjects

Joseph Connor

Applicant

Outcome: The judge hearing the case remanded Connor in custody with consent to bail, the conditions of which required that an independent surety of €250 be lodged.