Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe

Sergeant Maurice McCabe has been attempting to seek accountability in An Garda Síochána for more than 10 years.

His battle has spanned the tenure of four Garda Commissioners, six Ministers for Justice and five Ministers for Health.

Below is a comprehensive timeline of events – covering 2006 to the present day – charting how one man restored his good name, changed a police force forever and brought a government to the brink of collapse.

We will correct any errors.

January 2006: Sgt Maurice McCabe makes a complaint  in relation to an incident where a garda had consumed alcohol before attending the scene of a suicide. This resulted in a sanction being imposed on that colleague.

Noel Conroy is Garda Commissioner at this time. He holds the position from July 2003 until he retires in November 2007.

Michael McDowell, of the Progressive Democrats, is the Minister for Justice at this time; while Mary Harney, also of the Progressive Democrats, is the Minister for Health.

December 2006: The colleague, about whom Sgt McCabe made the complaint, makes a complaint about Sgt McCabe on behalf of the colleague’s daughter. The daughter subsequently makes a statement in which she alleges that, about ten years previously, when she was around six years old, she had been playing hide and seek with Maurice McCabe and his two eldest children at their home. She said when Sgt McCabe found her, he tickled her and pressed up against her in an inappropriate manner.

Supt Noel Cunningham, as the person in charge of the Cavan/Monaghan division, investigates this complaint.

Early 2007: After the allegation is investigated, a file is sent to the DPP with the recommendation that there is no grounds for a prosecution. The DPP directs that no prosecution should be taken – with the observation that it is doubtful the allegations should constitute a crime at all.

April 30, 2007: Taxi driver Mary Lynch is violently assaulted by Jerry McGrath in Virginia, Co. Cavan. McGrath had his zip undone as he bit her, viciously kicked her and pulled out lumps of her hair. He left her with a black eye, bruising down her side and  bruises on her neck, as he held his hands around her neck during the assault. McGrath was released on station bail of €300 the next day, before Mary Lynch gave a statement. McGrath was never questioned about details of her statement. He was charged with assault with no conditions attached to his bail.

June 14, 2007: Brian Lenihan Jnr, of Fianna Fáil, is the new Minister for Justice.

July 9, 2007: A car registered to Deputy Commissioner Martin Callinan – who was appointed to the position in January 2007 – is caught speeding on camera. His Renault Megane was caught going at a speed of 83kph in a 60kph zone. The penalty points in relation to this incident were subsequently quashed.

September 11, 2007: A man made a complaint at Bailieboro Garda station in Co Cavan that his son had been sexually abused by Fr Michael Molloy, of Kill in Cootehill, Co Cavan.

The victim told gardai that one incident of serious sexual assault involving Fr Molloy occurred in March or April 2007, following evening mass, after he had installed or updated antivirus software on a computer in the parochial house, occupied at that time by Fr Molloy. He described the computer, its operating system, and the software he installed to the gardai.

September 14, 2007: Following the complaint, and after obtaining warrants, gardai searched two properties associated with Fr Molloy. They took a number of items, including a personal computer, and brought them to Bailieboro Garda station, where Sgt Maurice McCabe was on duty that day. The items taken from Fr Molloy’s house were placed in the station’s property room. On the same day, Fr Molloy was arrested and interviewed at Bailieboro Garda station.

In a statement given by Garda Pearse O’Shannon, he stated that he found that the name of the software on the seized computer matched that given by the victim.

It subsequently turned out that the warrants, under which the computer and other items were seized, were defective.

October 2007: A file on Mary Lynch’s assault is finally sent to the DPP with a recommendation that the case be dealt with in the district court. Micheal Clifford, of the Irish Examiner, has reported that “the file came back within three weeks, upgrading the charge to Section 3, “assault causing harm” and a robbery charge. The DPP instructed that it should be dealt with by the district court only if a guilty plea was entered on both charges. Otherwise, it should go to trial in the Circuit Court.”

October 9, 2007: McGrath tried to abduct a five-year-old girl from a house which he had broken into, in Dundrum, Co Tipperary. The girl’s father managed to overpower McGrath and hold him until the gardaí arrived. McGrath was charged with assault causing harm, burglary and false imprisonment. He was held in Limerick Prison.

October 18, 2007: McGrath’s Cavan assault case involving Mary Lynch was due for a routine review of bail in Virginia District Court. McGrath’s solicitor was told McGrath didn’t need to attend the two-minute routine hearing. No objection was made at Virginia District Court to renew McGrath’s bail on the Cavan assault charge – even though it was known that McGrath was in custody for assault causing harm, burglary and false imprisonment.

October 30, 2007: An application for bail by McGrath was made in Clonmel Circuit Court on the Tipperary false imprisonment charge. Detective Sergeant John Long objected but the court was not told about the Cavan assault and McGrath was granted bail. Michael Clifford, of the Irish Examiner, has reported: “In a subsequent investigation, Sgt Long said that prior to the bail application, he had checked McGrath’s background on the garda Pulse system. (This would be second nature to any garda investigating a violent incident). On seeing an entry about Cavan, he rang an “unidentified garda” in a “Cavan station” — also unidentified — and was told that the case involved a minor assault over a taxi fare.”

November 2007: Fachtna Murphy is appointed Garda Commissioner.

December 7, 2007: McGrath murders Silvia Roche Kelly in the Clarion Hotel in Limerick.

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