A FORMER Garda sergeant who refused to give a breath test in a suspected drink driving case was at the centre of allegations at the Morris Tribunal.
Jack Conaty was banned from driving for a total of six years at Letterkenny District Court last week.
He was abusive to Gardai who arrested him and told one of them his name was ‘F*** Off’.
Conaty retired from the force in the wake of the Morris Tribunal which looked at allegations of corruption in the Donegal Gardai.
He was named in one of Mr Justice Morris’s reports as having provided false statements to cover up for another Garda accused of planting a gun at a traveller camp in Burnfoot in 1998.
Mr Justice Morris said Garda Martin Leonard, Sergeant Jack Conaty and Garda Padraig Mulligan corruptly invented a story to provide a defence for Sgt John White.
This involved inventing an allegation that two completely innocent gardaí — Garda Eamon McConigley and Garda Tony Moran — planted the firearm.
The report was scathing in its criticism of the men and said all three were determined to cause “as much mischief as possible” for the garda authorities.
Det Sgt White later described the tribunal’s findings against him as “perverse”, given he had been cleared by the courts.
Morris however said Det Sgt John White planted a shotgun at a Travellers’ encampment in Burnfoot, Co Donegal on 22 May 1998.
The tribunal rejected an alleged conspiracy theory by Sgt White that senior gardaí were out to frame him for planting the gun.
Three gardaí conspired to invent allegations against two innocent officers in a bid to help Sgt White, said the report.
Morris ruled that the seven Travellers arrested were unlawfully deprived of their liberty and were subjected to derogatory comments in custody.
Sgt White denied the outcome of the Morris report.
Conaty left the force in 2006 while Leonard and Mulligan were dismissed. All three denied the findings of the report.
Last week’s court case involving Conaty is here
The case report is here https://www.donegaldaily.com/2012/10/05/former-garda-sergeant-gripped-steering-wheel-after-suspected-drunk-driving-incident/
Tags: