Courts / Dublin / Report
Woman bundled into van and told she'd be buried after drug-fuelled attack by ex-garda
Summary
In a 2022 court hearing, former Garda Stephen Cooper (37) and accomplice Stephen McGrath (37) were sentenced for drug‑ and alcohol‑fuelled assaults on two women. Cooper forced a woman to undergo a "strip search" after claiming she stole drugs, threatened her, and inserted his fingers into her body. McGrath then violently assaulted a second woman, kicking, punching, and tearing her hair, while both men threatened to take her to the mountains and bury her. They attempted to place her in a van, but she resisted and was ultimately left in the footwell. Cooper pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the first woman and to threats against the second, while McGrath pleaded guilty to assault causing harm, sexual assault, and weapon production. Judge Martin Nolan imposed a three‑year sentence for Cooper's assault and a three‑year sentence for the threats, to run consecutively.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Woman bundled into van and told she'd be buried after drug-fuelled attack by ex-garda. Charges or matters: assault causing harm of the first woman at a place in Naas; assault causing harm to the second woman at Rathcoole, making a threat to kill her and to production of an article capable of inflicting harm; assault causing harm to the second woman and production of a weapon at Ashfield. Procedural stage: sentence
When:
- April 2021 Other
- April 23 Incident
- 2022-06-28 Publication
Why: He said that McGrath's level of culpability was greater because of his treatment of the second woman in the vehicle. CNI source report
Case subjects
Convicted Person
Charges: assault causing harm of the first woman at a place in Naas; assault causing harm to the second woman at Rathcoole, making a threat to kill her and to production of an article capable of inflicting harm; assault causing harm to the second woman and production of a weapon at Ashfield (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Photo: Collins) A former garda and another man have been jailed for drug and alcohol-fuelled assaults on two women, which culminated in one woman being bundled into a van and told she would be driven to the mountains and buried. Cooper was jailed in 2014 for perverting the course of justice and drug dealing after he allowed a friend to take the blame when gardai found the drug LSD during a search at the Electric Picnic music festival.
Defendant
Charges: assault causing harm of the first woman at a place in Naas; assault causing harm to the second woman at Rathcoole, making a threat to kill her and to production of an article capable of inflicting harm; assault causing harm to the second woman and production of a weapon at Ashfield (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Places mentioned
- Kilteel Road
- Dublin
- Dublin Circuit Criminal Court
Topics
Drugs Stage Sentence Violent Crime
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