The High Court has quashed a decision by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) to discontinue its investigation of Gavin Tierney’s complaint that a garda punched him during his arrest. The matter was remitted to GSOC for further consideration; the court did not decide whether an assault occurred or direct GSOC to reach a particular conclusion.
Tierney alleged that one of two arresting gardaí punched him three times in the face while he was restrained in a garda car. The gardaí said he had driven dangerously, resisted arrest and tried to headbutt one of them. An independent driver and garda radio records supported their account of his driving. At the station, Tierney complained of assault and had a visible facial injury. One arresting garda said the injury happened when Tierney hit his head on a station door.
GSOC first discontinued its investigation in 2017, concluding that the evidence gathered contradicted Tierney’s account and further investigation was unnecessary. On the same day, the District Court dismissed the road traffic charges against him. At that hearing, another garda witness said Tierney already had a visible injury when he arrived at the station, contradicting the account that it was caused by the station door. The arresting garda said he might have been mistaken.
After Tierney asked GSOC to reopen the complaint, it reviewed the recording of the District Court hearing but declined to do so. Its December 2022 decision said it was “impossible to say with certainty” how the injury occurred and that further investigation was not necessary or reasonably practicable.
Justice Mary Rose Gearty said the investigator’s task at that stage was to consider whether there was evidence that an offence may have been committed, not to resolve the complaint or decide the weight of competing accounts. The court found that the reference to certainty suggested a higher standard than the one set by law. It also identified concerns about the decision’s treatment of the changed evidence, Tierney’s behaviour at the station and whether further inquiries remained practicable, including asking the garda witnesses to clarify their accounts.
The judge stressed that the court was not finding Tierney had probably been assaulted. GSOC retains responsibility for assessing the evidence and deciding what further consideration is appropriate. The court’s provisional view was that GSOC should pay the judicial review costs, but invited submissions by 8 April 2024 before making a final costs decision.