Garda Superintendent Gavin O’Reilly has been cleared of an assault charge that arose from an incident which took place on the 26th of August 2023, adjacent to Dublin’s Panti Bar and Pennylane gay bars.
O’Reilly was however found guilty of engaging in threatening, abusive, or insulting behaviour contrary to Section 6 of the Public Order Act in “limited circumstances” related to his having gone back into Pennylane, after initially leaving when asked to do so.
Today at Dublin District Court, Brazilian security guard Osmar Fontes took the witness stand this afternoon to give evidence of the events of the 26th of August 2023 regarding an incident alleged to have taken place outside Panti Bar and Pennylane on Dublin’s Capel Street.
Superintendent O’Reilly was charged with an assault contrary to Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences, and threatening, abusive, or insulting behaviour contrary to the Public Order Act.
On the night in question an alleged altercation took place between O’Reilly and the then manager of Pennylane cafe and bar, Emma Parks.
Fontes recalled the events of the night in question in relation to why the accused and two friends of his were asked to leave Pennylane by Parks, saying it was “because one of them [O’Reilly] was a bit drunk”.
He said that after the three men left the bar after being told by Parks to ‘go and get something to eat and come back later,’ the accused came back a few minutes later and had an “argument” with Parks.
Fontes said O’Reilly started ”to be aggressive” and “put the finger in her face”, before Parks, “get the phone and put in his face.”
He said he did not hear O’Reilly refer to fellow security guard, Marcos Peter Inacio, as a “black bastard”, as both Inacio and Parks have claimed.
Fontes said that Parks had put the phone “very close to his face” before O’Reilly “slapped” it out of her hand, causing it to “fall”.
He said that O’Reilly had told him “I’ll get you later” and “you’ll lose your job”.
The bouncer, who told the court he is proficient in Jiu Jitsu, said, “It was a bad night for everybody.”
Fontes agreed with counsel for the accused, Garnet Orange SC, that his client was not “messing around” with the witness saying he was “just drunk”.
Orange argued that the exchange was “No more than a heated conversation” and that if Fontes had believed Parks to be in any “danger” he would have “intervened”, to which Fontes replied, “Yes”.
“She put the phone very close to his face”, said Fontes, adding, “The natural reaction is to hit. ”
He agreed with Mr. Orange that O’Reilly was “manhandled to the ground held until Gardaí arrived.”
Viewing CCTV of the events outside Pennylane he said he “didn’t realise” that Parks had come back to where O’Reilly was standing outside the bar after he had “put her inside” the bar.
He accepted Mr. Orange’s suggestion that his actions in putting O’Reilly in a “headlock” for a number of seconds was “perhaps an overreaction”.
Asked by prosecuting counsel, John Griffin if he would “do the same thing again”, he replied, “I have to protect the manager.”
Judge John Hughes put it to Fontes that he “didn’t realise the manageress had come back” and that seemed to “express some dissatisfaction that she went back” to where O’Reily was again, to which he replied, “Yes, it was not necessary, it was solved.”
In a statement, Sergeant Niall Godfrey said that he knew Inspector O’Reilly, who had told him he had “3 pints” to drink that night and had claimed that the “female manager” had “orchestrated the situation. ”
The court previously heard that Godfrey, who was unable to attend the court as he is “on official business” in Pakistan, arrived on the scene and took over custody of O’Reilly from the two Gardaí who had been dispatched in response to Ms. Park’s 99 call.
He unhandcuffed him, and placed him inside his own “half marked” vehicle.
Mr. Orange asked the court to dismiss the charges against his client saying what had taken place that night was “a very minor incident that was escalated by the particular intervention of Peter Inacio.”
He argued that Emma Parks “had no legitimate reasons or grounds for taking this case” and that “she was looking for some justification to make a complaint to Gardaí” thinking that a “civil case” would be taken against the bar.
Orange said his client had been “subjected to a very nasty and upsetting experience” and that Parks was “absolutely not to be relied upon” as a witness, and that his client had been “choked to the ground and falsely imprisoned” on the night.
He said that Parks had “deliberately and consciously lied to the person on the 999 call,” by telling the Garda who answered the emergency call, “He’s like lashing out, can you get here please,” at a moment when CCTV showed O’Reilly being restrained by the bouncers.
Orange said that “as a citizen of this country” his client had the “right to resist” when “power is being used unjustly”.
Prosecuting counsel, John Griffin disagreed that his arrest had been “unlawful” saying that it has arisen out a “minor assault” in circumstances where Gardaí have to make “very quick decisions”.
He said that while it was appropriate for the courts to conduct “forensic examinations” of CCTV of an incident, Gardaí were making “real time decisions” on the job.
He said that the alleged use of a racial slur against Mr. Inacio, which the defence repeatedly denied had been made, was “something that has come out in evidence” in the case “from the outset”.
“Danger came to the door of Pennylane that night” when O’ Reilly “chose to go back” to the bar, he said, adding that Ms. Parks “did not cause that to happen”.
Sentencing