The Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors says it will not make any comment on weekend reports that a judicial inquiry which looked into the death of Donegal based Garda Sergeant Michael Galvin has cleared the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission of wrongdoing.
Sergeant Galvin took his own life at Ballyshannon Garda Station on Thursday May 28th last year. He had been the subject of a GSOC investigation, but was reportedly unaware that he had been cleared in relation to the inquiry.
Following his death, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald ordered the judicial inquiry after meetings with both GSOC and the AGSI.
In Yesterday’s Sunday Times, it was reported that Supreme Court Judge Frank Clarke has found GSOC acted in good faith in its dealings with Sergeant Galvin, and the investigation had not been concluded at the time of Sergeant Galvin’s death.
The judge is understood to have found that case officers had recommended that no further action was required, but that had not been considered by the three designated commissioners.
GSOC officers had been questioning the sergeant about contact he and a colleague had with a pedestrian in Ballyshannon town centre in the early hours of January 1st last year. She assured them she was all right, but a short time later, she was hit by a taxi and died.
In a note addressed to his wife, Sergeant Galvin asserted his innocence, saying he could no longer take the pressure of an investigation which had left him feeling like a criminal.
Minister Fitzgerald is expected to publish the report in the coming weeks, and the AGSI have indicated to Highland Radio News that they will wait for the full report to be published before makingt any comment.
- Tue, 10 Dec 2024
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