The High Court has dismissed a €500,000 damages claim brought by New Ross resident Patrick “Paddy” Rochford over his arrest at an N25 bypass ceremony, a subsequent prosecution and a later search of his home.
Rochford was arrested on February 1, 2016 near a sod-turning ceremony at Camlin, New Ross, attended by then minister Brendan Howlin. He was charged with two public-order offences, convicted in the District Court in July 2016 and acquitted on appeal by the Circuit Court in February 2017.
Rochford later sued for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. He also challenged a May 2017 search warrant obtained during a separate Garda investigation into an allegation that Facebook posts and other conduct amounted to harassment of Garda Pat Kelly.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons held that Garda Kelly had reasonable grounds to arrest Rochford. The court found that Rochford had used abusive language towards Gardaí, had made remarks concerning Howlin which could reasonably be regarded as threatening and abusive, and had been directed to leave the area before attempting to proceed towards the event.
The judge emphasised that this finding did not overturn or undermine Rochford’s acquittal. The issue in the civil case was whether the Gardaí had acted reasonably and lawfully, not whether Rochford was criminally guilty.
The malicious-prosecution claim also failed. The court found reasonable grounds for bringing the public-order prosecution and no evidence that Garda Kelly or Superintendent John McDonald had acted maliciously.
Separately, the court found that detectives had reasonable grounds in 2017 to seek a warrant to seize electronic devices from Rochford’s Pondfields home while investigating alleged harassment. The warrant expressly sought devices capable of publishing social-media messages, and the investigation was assigned to officers outside New Ross to preserve independence.
The court therefore dismissed the proceedings in their entirety. Costs were left for further submissions, with the judgment indicating that the normal rule would make Rochford liable for the successful defendants’ measured costs unless the court ordered otherwise.