The High Court dismissed Kevin and Karen Tracey’s civil action against 23 defendants, ruling that the claims were an abuse of process and could not be separated from an attempt to challenge earlier court findings.
In a judgment delivered on 29 June 2010, Mr Justice Charleton said the case stemmed from events involving boys playing football on a cul-de-sac road on 19 May 2003. Kevin Tracey said a ball hit his porch and that, later, Garda Inspector Eunan Dolan entered his doorway, pushed him aside and took the ball. Tracey complained to gardaí and later to the Garda Complaints Board.
A separate summons accused Tracey of assaulting neighbour Gabrielle Skinner by pushing her during the football incident. The District Court found the facts alleged proved, but applied the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 without proceeding to conviction. The Circuit Court affirmed that order on appeal. Neither court convicted Tracey, and the High Court stressed that the order was not an acquittal.
The Traceys’ 2009 civil claim alleged a wide-ranging conspiracy involving public officials, gardaí, judges, neighbours and two boys. It included claims of conspiracy, malicious prosecution, assault, trespass and breaches of rights. Kevin Tracey alleged that the assault charge and evidence against him were fabricated to conceal the alleged incident with Dolan. The defendants sought to strike out the pleadings as frivolous or vexatious, disclosing no cause of action and abusing court process.
Justice Charleton said the claims were interwoven and could not be divided into a potentially valid claim and an improper one. The prior findings on the assault summons could not be challenged through a separate civil action, he said. He also found no evidence that the defendants had joined together to undermine the Traceys’ rights, describing the conspiracy case as based on supposition and disconnected facts.
The court dismissed the action. The judgment records that no judicial review had been brought to challenge the District Court or Circuit Court decisions, or the Garda Complaints Board’s dismissal of Kevin Tracey’s complaint against Dolan.