The High Court has ordered compensation of €169,518 for former Garda sergeant Thomas Mansfield, finding that 75% of his post-traumatic stress disorder was caused by a 1983 terrorist attack at Derrada Wood, near Ballinamore, County Leitrim.
In a judgment delivered on 8 December 2014, Mr Justice Bernard Barton assessed compensation for the full consequences of the illness at €150,000 in general damages. Applying a 25% reduction for other traumatic events during Mr Mansfield’s career, the court awarded €112,500 under that heading. It also awarded €55,438 for loss of earnings and €1,580 in agreed special damages unrelated to earnings.
Mr Mansfield was a trainee garda on 16 December 1983, when he joined a search for kidnapped businessman Don Tidey. The judgment recounts that armed men in combat fatigues arrived in a blue car and opened fire. Mr Mansfield took cover in a ditch. Garda Gerry Sheehan and Private Kelly were killed, and a detective garda who had lent Mr Mansfield a revolver was seriously wounded.
The court heard that Mr Mansfield experienced stress, anxiety and disturbed sleep after the attack, but continued working. In 2007, a training video unexpectedly recounted the Derrada Wood events. He became acutely distressed, later received a PTSD diagnosis and eventually retired from the Garda Síochána in March 2009.
The parties disputed how much of his condition was legally attributable to the 1983 attack, given other traumatic experiences during his service. The respondent’s psychiatrist attributed 40% to the attack; Mr Mansfield’s psychiatrist considered the later events perpetuating factors rather than independent causes. The judge found those later experiences contributed in law, but were less significant than the respondent’s proposed apportionment. He assigned 75% of causation to the 1983 events and 25% to other events for which the respondent was not responsible and no claim was made.
The respondent also contested the earnings claim, arguing Mr Mansfield had chosen voluntary retirement instead of applying for early retirement on health grounds. The judge found that significant PTSD symptoms affected his decision and that he would then have been entitled to apply on health grounds. He allowed the agreed €73,918 earnings claim subject to the same 25% reduction. The court’s order was for the net total of €169,518.