22 March 2001 Edition
Guerin case fiasco
ROBBIE MacGABHANN argues that the 26-County criminal justice system has been seriously damaged by the means used to secure convictions against those the Gardaí believe were involved in the killing of Veronica Guerin
``We are very satisfied with the result today''. These were the words of Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne last week after the failure of the 26-County state to secure a conviction against John Gilligan for the killing of Veronica Guerin.
Gilligan was convicted on five counts of drug trafficking and 11 offences in all for which he was sentenced to 28 years in prison. This is considered by the Gardaí to be a success even though it is highly unlikely that Gilligan will serve such a lengthy sentence, as other convictions of associates in his criminal business have had their lengthy convictions substantially reduced. Patrick Holland had his 20-year sentence reduced to 12 years and Brian Meehan is appealing his 12-year sentence.
This though, is only one of a series of serious deficiencies in not just the Garda investigation but the whole method and rationale of the prosecution case. The 26-County criminal justice system has been seriously damaged by the means used to secure convictions against those the Gardaí believe were involved in the killing of Veronica Guerin.
The first gaping hole is the misuse of the witness protection scheme set up in the wake of the Guerin killing. In this case, the witness protection scheme has been used to shield three of the accomplices, Russell Warren, John Dunne and Charles Bowden. The garda use of whistleblowers creates serious problems for future criminal investigations.
Assistant Garda Commissioner Tony Hickey believes that ``the use of co-operative accomplices is one of the most important and effective means of fighting organised crime gangs''.
In other words, the Gardaí are accepting that the only way to tackle criminal organisations is let them form, break the law and then counteract them by recruiting informers with dubious reasons guiding their unconvincing testimony. Is this really the best we can do to tackle crime?
Even more damning about the witness protection scheme was its failure to adequately protect the female witness who was allegedly with Gilligan in Amsterdam at the time of the Guerin assassination and overheard the contents of a conversation between him and another witness, Russell Warren.
The real meat of the Garda investigation was the 1,400 interviews, 3,500 statements, 425 searches, 214 arrests and 105 firearms seized. It was these investigations that led to the discovery of the warehouse used by Gilligan and others to store drugs and coordinate their criminal activities. It was here too that the financial records that showed the scale of the drug smuggling operation were found and it was this information that led to the conviction of Gilligan and the justification for such a long sentence.
Some positive changes have come from the Guerin investigation. We now have a Criminal Assets Bureau. Unfortunately, the speed with which it was established has created doubts about the constitutionality of all its activities. This is a common theme throughout the Guerin investigation - haste to secure convictions meant that good investigative practices and basic civil rights have been sacrificed in order to secure convictions.
The Special Court in Green Street is anathema to a proper judicial system. The use of this court to deal with the Guerin killing has set a bad precedent which could easily lead to miscarriages of justice and, worse still, badly made judgments which could be overturned in higher courts. The argument why it is not possible to use jury courts has not been made by the state.
Perhaps the most saddening aspect of the Guerin case has been the effort made by the Gardaí and the state to secure convictions. It was only after Guerin was shot dead that such efforts were made. Why was the criminal business of Gilligan, Bowden, Holland, Meehan, Warren, Traynor and Ward not detected before Guerin's death.
John Gilligan had a criminal record that began in 1967 and involved 16 previous convictions to the ones for which he was incarcerated last week. He built one of the largest stud farms in the state without raising Garda suspicions about how he did it. Surely this would have merited an investigation? For some still unexplained reason it didn't.
There are a range of questions that should have been asked of the Gardaí in the aftermath of the Guerin case. Instead, they have been congratulating themselves and basking in the appreciation of politicians such as Bertie Ahern, who paid tribute to their ``outstanding and dedicated work''.
We need less appreciation and more investigation. We don't need to live in the Gardaí's tabloid world of `criminal gangs' with `ruthless bosses', `crime lords' with names culled from episodes of Batman.
The Guerin convictions were secured in haste, by dubious methods and though everyone wants to see the perpetrators convicted, it is only right that it should happen by due process and not by means of a twisted and distorted legal system that creates more problems than it resolves.
``We are very satisfied with the result today''. These were the words of Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne last week after the failure of the 26-County state to secure a conviction against John Gilligan for the killing of Veronica Guerin.
Gilligan was convicted on five counts of drug trafficking and 11 offences in all for which he was sentenced to 28 years in prison. This is considered by the Gardaí to be a success even though it is highly unlikely that Gilligan will serve such a lengthy sentence, as other convictions of associates in his criminal business have had their lengthy convictions substantially reduced. Patrick Holland had his 20-year sentence reduced to 12 years and Brian Meehan is appealing his 12-year sentence.
This though, is only one of a series of serious deficiencies in not just the Garda investigation but the whole method and rationale of the prosecution case. The 26-County criminal justice system has been seriously damaged by the means used to secure convictions against those the Gardaí believe were involved in the killing of Veronica Guerin.
The first gaping hole is the misuse of the witness protection scheme set up in the wake of the Guerin killing. In this case, the witness protection scheme has been used to shield three of the accomplices, Russell Warren, John Dunne and Charles Bowden. The garda use of whistleblowers creates serious problems for future criminal investigations.
Assistant Garda Commissioner Tony Hickey believes that ``the use of co-operative accomplices is one of the most important and effective means of fighting organised crime gangs''.
In other words, the Gardaí are accepting that the only way to tackle criminal organisations is let them form, break the law and then counteract them by recruiting informers with dubious reasons guiding their unconvincing testimony. Is this really the best we can do to tackle crime?
Even more damning about the witness protection scheme was its failure to adequately protect the female witness who was allegedly with Gilligan in Amsterdam at the time of the Guerin assassination and overheard the contents of a conversation between him and another witness, Russell Warren.
The real meat of the Garda investigation was the 1,400 interviews, 3,500 statements, 425 searches, 214 arrests and 105 firearms seized. It was these investigations that led to the discovery of the warehouse used by Gilligan and others to store drugs and coordinate their criminal activities. It was here too that the financial records that showed the scale of the drug smuggling operation were found and it was this information that led to the conviction of Gilligan and the justification for such a long sentence.
Some positive changes have come from the Guerin investigation. We now have a Criminal Assets Bureau. Unfortunately, the speed with which it was established has created doubts about the constitutionality of all its activities. This is a common theme throughout the Guerin investigation - haste to secure convictions meant that good investigative practices and basic civil rights have been sacrificed in order to secure convictions.
The Special Court in Green Street is anathema to a proper judicial system. The use of this court to deal with the Guerin killing has set a bad precedent which could easily lead to miscarriages of justice and, worse still, badly made judgments which could be overturned in higher courts. The argument why it is not possible to use jury courts has not been made by the state.
Perhaps the most saddening aspect of the Guerin case has been the effort made by the Gardaí and the state to secure convictions. It was only after Guerin was shot dead that such efforts were made. Why was the criminal business of Gilligan, Bowden, Holland, Meehan, Warren, Traynor and Ward not detected before Guerin's death.
John Gilligan had a criminal record that began in 1967 and involved 16 previous convictions to the ones for which he was incarcerated last week. He built one of the largest stud farms in the state without raising Garda suspicions about how he did it. Surely this would have merited an investigation? For some still unexplained reason it didn't.
There are a range of questions that should have been asked of the Gardaí in the aftermath of the Guerin case. Instead, they have been congratulating themselves and basking in the appreciation of politicians such as Bertie Ahern, who paid tribute to their ``outstanding and dedicated work''.
We need less appreciation and more investigation. We don't need to live in the Gardaí's tabloid world of `criminal gangs' with `ruthless bosses', `crime lords' with names culled from episodes of Batman.
The Guerin convictions were secured in haste, by dubious methods and though everyone wants to see the perpetrators convicted, it is only right that it should happen by due process and not by means of a twisted and distorted legal system that creates more problems than it resolves.