A retired superintendent charged with perverting the course of justice, allowed preference to determine who ought to be prosecuted, his trial has heard.
In his closing statement to the jury, Carl Hanahoe SC for the State said the case is about "whether or not the law is blind, whether or not we are all equal before the law".
Closing arguments are being heard at the trial of the former superintendent and four serving gardaí accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice in respect of quashing road traffic summonses for motorists on dates between October 2016 and September 2019.
The five accused are former Supt Eamon O'Neill; Sergeant Anne-Marie Hassett; Sergeant Michelle Leahy, Roxboro Road Garda Station; Garda Tom McGlinchey, Murroe Garda Station; and Garda Colm Geary, Ennis Garda Station.
The prosecution barrister told the jury that "the decision as to whether or not you should take penalty points should not be determined by who you know".
Mr Hanahoe said of the 26 motorists referred to during trial, all but two did not have to take on penalty points or appear in court "because of their personal connections to Mr O'Neill".
He said that the remaining two motorists were "friends of friends".
He told the jury that motorists contacted Mr O'Neill asking for advice and discretion and he forwarded the requests to Sgt Anne Marie Hassett, Gda Geary and Gda McGlinchey, who in turn contacted the detecting garda in each case. He said Sgt Leahy ensured the summonses were withdrawn.
Mr Hanahoe said the four co-accused sought ways to persuade others not to prosecute because of who the motorists were and the friendship they had with Eamon O'Neill.
He referred to "the jokey tone" in which text messages were exchanged between Mr O'Neill, motorists and other gardaí.
Mr Hanahoe said some of the alleged speeding offences that Mr O'Neill was seeking to have quashed were "eye watering" and seemed "to be of no consequence" in the exchange of messages.
He described Mr O'Neill's contention that it has been a matter of custom and practice to use garda discretion in this manner as "a nonsense".
He said Mr O'Neill knew about a 2014 directive from Garda Headquarters that "locked out" superintendents from the process of cancelling penalty points.
The prosecution asked the jury to assess a statement made by Sgt Hassett, in which she said the text messages she sent to garda colleagues was to furnish them with information that she considered appropriate as to whether or not the prosecution should proceed.
He said one of the text messages read: "Do you have Garda Ryan's number? She stopped one of the players."
Another text message read: "He's on the Limerick panel with Eamon."
Mr Hanahoe put it to the jury that this was not assisting a garda in the lawful exercise of discretion.
"All that she's saying is that he's a player," he said.
Separate criminal investigation
In his closing statement to the jury, Felix McEnroy SC on behalf of Mr O'Neill, said the prosecution case emerged from a separate criminal investigation "that went nowhere, where they got no evidence to convict him".
He said there had been a high-profile raid on the home of Mr O'Neill and "they only got his phone" for which he had provided access codes.
Mr McEnroy said four press releases were issued by the Garda Press Office in relation to his client's arrest, and there was no publicity to let the public know that the investigation went nowhere.
He said that after the investigation "hoovered up everything about him, the best they could do was 27 allegations against him" over two and a half years "and nothing else".
He cited the evidence of retired chief superintendent Gerry Mahon, who described Mr O'Neill as an outstanding detective who dealt with the worst of crime in Limerick City.
"Does that reasonably suggest to you that this is a criminal setting out to pervert the course of justice?"
He put it to the jury that it was "interesting" that motorists cited by the prosecution for preferential treatment were not in court to give evidence and explain what they meant in text messages.
'He shouldn't be here'
Vincent Heneghan SC, on behalf of Garda Colm Geary, said the accused was a 32-year-old garda when he got a text from Mr O'Neill, a superintendent who was "several ranks above him", to make a request of a detecting garda on his behalf.
"He was a guard, Eamon O’Neill was a superintendent," he told the jury.
Mr Heneghan said Garda Geary got tasked by a superior officer to do something "in the line of duty, in the line of work".
He said Garda Geary, who was successful in his application to be a detective while on suspension pending the outcome of the trial, was obeying a superior officer.
"He shouldn't be here," Mr Heneghan said.
Further closing statements from the defence are expected tomorrow before the jury of 8 men and 4 women at Limerick Circuit Court.
