A retired superintendent and four serving gardaí have been found not guilty of perverting the course of justice, following an eight-week trial at Limerick Circuit Court.
The five accused denied 39 charges of unlawfully interfering in road traffic prosecutions, on dates between October 2016 and September 2019.
The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for over six hours before returning its verdict.
The case against former superintendent Eamon O'Neill, Garda Tom McGlinchey, Garda Colm Geary, Sergeant Michelle Leahy and Sergeant Anne-Marie Hassett was heard over eight weeks.
It was the State's case that Mr O’Neill, while a serving superintendent, received enquiries from motorists and other gardaí about pending or potential road traffic prosecutions, and that he passed these queries onto other gardaí, including some of his co-accused, who communicated amongst themselves and with other gardaí in attempting to have the cases struck out or withdrawn from court.
The trial heard the alleged traffic offences included speeding, holding a mobile phone while driving, having no insurance and not wearing a seatbelt.
After deliberating for a total of six hours and seven minutes, the jury returned no guilty verdicts on every one of the 39 counts they had to consider.
The courtroom erupted with applause and cheering as the final not guilty verdict was read into the record.
Family and friends of the acquitted men and women have gathered outside Court 3 in anticipation of their exit from the building shortly.
