Judge says gardaí not following custody rules
Friday, 29 July 2005 22:09
A Supreme Court judge has said that calls by judges for gardaí to comply with the rules and regulations of the treatment of people in custody has yielded little result.
Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said gardaí have regularly avoided audio visual recording, made selective notes and breached clear regulations in the belief such breaches would attract nothing worse than a judicial rebuke.
His comments were contained in a judgment quashing the conviction of 64-year-old John Diver, who was jailed for life in 2000 for the murder of his wife Geraldine.
The Supreme Court today ordered a retrial in the case, in which garda interviews had not been video recorded and the recording in writing by various gardaí was found to be grossly deficient.
Mr Hardiman said that gardaí are not entitled to cherrypick what is to be recorded when interviewing someone in custody.
He also said it is utterly unacceptable to omit denials.
