A garda superintendent advised former Kerry footballer Tomás Ó Sé that he could avoid penalty points for a speeding offence by nominating another driver to take them, a jury has been told.
Text messages between the five-time All-Ireland medallist and superintendent Eamon O’Neill about a speeding offence were shown to the jury in the trial of the retired superintendent and four gardaí who are charged with perverting the course of justice by intervening in road traffic prosecutions.
Mr Ó Sé, who is the Kerry Under-20 football manager and a GAA analyst with RTÉ Sport, sent a picture of a fixed charge penalty notice to Mr O’Neill in January 2019, with a text message that read: "Good start to the new year."
The notice related to an offence of speeding at 121km/h in a 100km zone in Blarney, Co Cork.
On a later date, Mr Ó Sé sent another text message to the superintendent, which said: "What’s the best thing to do with those letters I got? Take it on the chin?"
The court heard that Mr O’Neill forwarded the messages to a third party, asking: "Can you do anything for him?"
The superintendent sent a message in reply to Mr Ó Sé, telling him that the only way out of it was to nominate someone abroad driving the car to take the penalty points.
The court heard that Mr Ó Sé was convicted of speeding and paid a fine €125.
The former Kerry footballer is not accused of any wrongdoing in this trial.
Mr O'Neill, Sergeant Anne Marie Hassett, Sergeant Michelle Leahy, Garda Tom McGlinchey and Garda Colm Geary have pleaded not guilty to a total of 39 offences of engaging in conduct tending and intended to pervert the course of justice on dates between October 2016 and September 2019.
The trial continues before Judge Roderick Maguire at Limerick Circuit Court.
