The jury in the trial of a retired superintendent and four gardaí accused of intervening in potential or pending road traffic prosecutions has heard that the office of then superintendent Eamon O'Neill at a garda station in Limerick was searched on the same day that he was arrested at his home.
Superintendent Cormac Brennan, who was a detective inspector attached to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation at the time, gave evidence of executing a search warrant at Roxboro Road Garda Station at 7am on 16 May 2019.
He outlined to the court the items seized in the office, which included three mobile phones, a laptop, a hard drive, a USB key, a yearbook diary, a sheet of paper with a username and password, an intelligence report and Supt O'Neill's personnel file.
Supt Brennan confirmed to the court that he reported to Detective Inspector Michael McNulty, who was the senior investigating officer with the GNBCI in the case, that he had executed the warrant.
He told the court he called Henry Street Garda Station, where he spoke with Chief Superintendent Gerry Roche, who provided him with documents requested by the GNBCI in the case.
Supt Brennan said he conveyed the seized items and documentation to a garda station in Athlone, where the accused, Supt O'Neill, was being questioned following his arrest that morning.
The jury of eight men and four women also heard evidence from a forensic mobile phone analyst working for Cellebrite in London.
The court heard Cellebrite provides tech solutions for the extraction of data from mobile phones for law enforcement and governments.
The company was employed by An Garda Siochána to extract data from a mobile phone seized at the home of Supt O’Neill in Ennis, Co Clare.
Jonathan Chan gave evidence via video link from London and told the court that he downloaded data in raw format from the phone using software that translated it into a readable format.
The data included image and video files as well as SMS and WhatsApp messages.
The court heard the process takes a few hours to complete, and Mr Chan performed a verification check before returning the phone and an analysis report to an officer from the GNBCI who had brought it to London.
Former garda superintendent Eamon O'Neill, Sergeant Anne Marie Hassett, Sergeant Michelle Leahy, Garda Colm Geary and Garda Tom McGlinchy have pleaded not guilty to a total of 39 offences of engaging in conduct tending and intended to pervert the course of justice contrary to common law on dates between October 2016 and September 2019.
The trial has previously heard that Supt O’Neill was the common denominator in respect of all 39 charges.
Carl Hanahoe SC, for the prosecution, said that what all the offences have in common is the alleged interference or involvement of Supt O’Neill.
The trial continues before Judge Roderick Maguire at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court.
