Pat Barry loses appeal against assault conviction

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Pat Barry’s appeal against conviction. The proceedings were reported on 2 February 2015.

Barry faced charges of assault causing harm to Detective Garda Rory Sheriff in Naas Garda Station and engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour at Sallins, Co Kildare, on 13 June 2010. He pleaded not guilty to both charges. A jury at Naas Circuit Criminal Court found him guilty. Judge Leonie Reynolds sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment, with the final six months suspended, on 11 June 2013.

Mr Justice George Birmingham said Barry had travelled to Sallins to attend a Republican Sinn Féin commemoration in Bodenstown. Barry was arrested under the Public Order Act and brought to Naas Garda Station. The judge said Barry punched the detective garda in the face while being brought into a cell and took hold of his pistol during the struggle.

Barry argued that the detective garda’s demand for his name and address was unlawful and that the jury should have been told about the circumstances surrounding his arrest. Through his barrister Fiona Murphy BL, he also submitted that gardaí had failed to obtain CCTV footage of the Sallins incident even though footage was available.

Mr Justice Birmingham said Barry’s response to the demand justified his arrest. The court was unconvinced that informing the jury of doubts about the arrest’s lawfulness could have produced a different outcome.

The judge said the CCTV failure did not undermine the verdict’s fairness. The footage would have had no bearing on the station assault and little relevance to the Sallins incident because it was silent. Mr Justice Birmingham sat with Mr Justice Seán Ryan and Mr Justice John Edwards.