Journalist Ian Bailey's case against the Garda Commissioner and the State is not about negligent investigation of the murder of French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier but about "deliberate corrupt behaviour", a High Court jury has been told.
Mr Bailey will say a Garda jabbed him in the arm and told him gardaí knew he was the killer of Ms Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in 1996, his lawyer Tom Creed SC outlined. Mr Bailey will also say a garda said: "If we can't pin this on you, you're finished in Ireland. You'll be found dead in a ditch with a bullet in the back of your head."
Mr Bailey will say those remarks were made to him in a patrol car when he was arrested on February 10th, 1997, on suspicion of the murder, said counsel.
A photographer was permitted take photographs of him when he arrived at Bandon Garda station where Mr Bailey would say he was subject to “unremittingly hostile” interrogation before being released to a “phalanx” of media. There were no video-taping facilities in the Bandon station.
Mr Bailey, despite never having been charged, has been treated “like a criminal” by gardaí, said counsel. He was arrested twice but never charged and contended both arrests were “actuated by malice”. Had he been jailed for life in 1996, he would be free but is still living a “nightmare”.
Mr Bailey’s case against the State is also about matters that “go to the heart of our democracy”. Democracy was about trusting that gardaí, who are required to uphold and enforce the law, will do so and not abuse their powers.
Marie Farrell, who ran a shop in Schull at the time of the murder, would tell the jury she was “threatened and cajoled” by officers into giving perjured evidence against Mr Bailey, said counsel. She would say Garda Jim Fitzgerald told her it was crucial “to maintain a scenario that put pressure on Mr Bailey” and gave her a mobile phone over a nine month period to facilitate contacts with gardaí.
She would say another Garda, Ted Murphy, had told her to “stop panicking”, she would never have to give evidence in court.She would also say retired Garda supt Dermot Dwyer told her she would be arrested if she did not turn up to give evidence in libel actions by Mr Bailey and had told her to say she was frightened of Mr Bailey, added counsel.
She would also say that when she told another Garda Maurice Walsh she would not go to court and tell lies, he replied: “If you open your mouth, I’ll make sure you never have a day’s peace as long as you live in Schull.”
Mr Bailey was making the case gardaí deliberately leaked to the media he was the prime suspect for the murder and to ensure he would not get a fair trial if ever charged, said Mr Creed. This was all “to get him to confess to something he had not done”.
He was opening Mr Bailey’s action against the Garda Commissioner and State for alleged wrongful arrest, false imprisonment, conspiracy, assault and intentional infliction of emotional and psychological suffering. The defendants deny all the allegations and also plead immunity from being sued by a suspect over alleged negligent investigation.
Outlining the case to Mr Justice John Hedigan and a jury, Mr Creed said Mr Bailey is entitled to exemplary damages, for the wrongs inflicted upon him by gardaí.
It would be claimed Garda supt Dermot Dwyer had told Mr Bailey in late January 1997 that Mr Dwyer was going to place Mr Bailey at Kealfadda Bridge in the early hours of Monday December 23rd, 1996, the date Ms Toscan du Plantier’s body was found, said counsel.
While the Garda commissioner ordered an inquiry into his complaints, his solicitor Frank Buttimer has not been given the 2007 report of that inquiry and the Department of Justice had supported the bid to extradite him to France.
