A MAN whose home was entered by gardaí in the mistaken belief that an armed criminal who they were pursuing might have taken the occupants hostage has lost his High Court action for damages for breach of his constitutional rights.
Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe yesterday praised the “immense courage and devotion to duty” of the gardaí involved, but expressed regret that no system existed for regulating siege situations and investigating Garda entries into citizens’ homes.
The judge accepted Garda evidence that their entry into Owen McCooey’s house near Virginia, Co Cavan, after 11.20pm on May 19th, 2003, was part of the “hot pursuit” of a criminal whom they believed was armed.
The gardaí entered the house fearing a criminal might have taken the occupants hostage. They had reasonable concern for the safety of any persons who might be in the house, Mr Justice O’Keeffe said.
The circumstances of this case were “unique”, he added. The gardaí had acted to safeguard life, and Mr McCooey (72), who was not in the house at the time, was not harmed by gardaí, save to the extent of some €544 damage to a rear window, the judge said.
He concluded the gardaí were entitled to act as they had and there was no breach of Mr McCooey’s constitutional right to the inviolability of his dwelling. He said he would decide later whether Mr McCooey was entitled to compensation for the damaged window.
It was “regrettable”, as Garda witnesses had acknowledged, that there was no system or protocol regulating siege situations such as arose in this case, whereby such entries by gardaí into citizens’ homes could be reported and investigated by senior gardaí.
This would have ensured that Mr McCooey was officially informed of the entry into his home and of the justification for that, he said.
Mr McCooey, a welder, whom the judge noted never previously had any difficulty with gardaí, had sued the Garda Commissioner and the State over the incident.
He alleged there was an unlawful breach of his constitutional right to the inviolability of his dwelling. He claimed he was afraid for a period afterwards to go into his house and had had to get a dog. It was only in their February 2005 defence to his action that gardaí first admitted entering his home.
He claimed that when he returned home that night, he was confronted by a Garda roadblock at his house, his keys were taken and he was ordered to put his hands up on the roof of his van.
When he entered his house, the kitchen window was half open and the catch was gone or broken. The next day he noticed a Garda diary in the house with an entry for May 19th, 2003, stating: “Operation re: guns Virginia” and the surname of a well-known criminal.
On June 19th, 2003, gardaí, under a search warrant, also entered his home and workshop and found nothing in either place. He later took legal proceedings.
In their defence, gardaí said they entered the house in circumstances where suspected members of a criminal gang earlier the same night fired shots at gardaí at a nearby premises, and one was chased near Mr McCooey’s house.
Det Garda Richard Culhane said he was in Virginia that night for an investigation relating to an armed raid in Balbriggan, where arms were taken from an arms dealer. Local gardaí found firearms in a house in the Virginia area. He said he pursued a man across a field towards Mr McCooey’s house and believed the man had gone into the house and taken the occupants hostage.
