Garda found not guilty of forging signature in official notebook

A member of An Garda Síochána has been found not guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice and of forging two signatures in his official Garda notebook in the investigation of an underage sex case.

The verdict was given on Friday afternoon in the trial of Owen Flynn, of Dunlo Hill, Ballinasloe, Galway, who appeared before Judge Jonathan Dunphy and a jury of 12 over the course of 12 days in Longford Circuit Court.

He stood trial on one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by recording a confession of alleged sexual intercourse with an underage female in his garda notebook, and one count of forgery by recording two signatures within that notebook.

Over the course of the trial, the jury heard evidence of how, on February 13, 2019, Garda Flynn was working a night shift at Ballymahon Garda Station, when three men arrived to speak to him.

One of the men, who cannot be named due to the nature of the conversation, told Shane Geraghty, BL, prosecuting for the state, and Dara Foynes, SC, for the defence, that he had gone to the station “to get his side of the story across” regarding allegations that he had engaged in sexual intercourse with an underage girl.

“I understood she was 17 but she wasn’t, she lied to me. Afterwards, I knew that she was 14. She was quite a tall girl,” he said in court.

CCTV footage showed the three men in conversation with Gda Flynn, before two of them wrote their names on a folded up piece of paper, which was then handed to Gda Flynn before they left the station.

That piece of paper was produced in court, and the witness confirmed it was his name in print, but not a signature.

Ms Foynes, defending, put it to the witness that Gda Flynn had left the station shortly after the conversation, and got him to sign the notebook.

“I’m going to suggest to you that Gda Flynn met you on your way back home and had the notebook with him and asked you to sign it, having told you what was in it,” she said.

“I do not remember that,” the man replied.

The court heard that following the visit to the garda station, the man drank a naggin of Irish whiskey and four “tall cans” of beer.

“Is it possible your recollection is hazy?” Ms Foynes asked.

“Maybe,” the witness replied.

Ms Foynes proceeded to read from Gda Flynn’s official notebook, which stated the girl “told me she was 17 years old before we had sex. I didn’t know she was 14”. She put it to the witness that his signature was below the statement and later asked him to confirm that “the details in the notebook are what you said – they’re correct”.

“Probably, yes,” he replied.

A handwriting report furnished to the court analysed several samples of the man’s signature against the signature in the garda notebook. Overall, the report was “inconclusive” on whether the signatures were forged.

After four hours and 46 minutes of deliberations today, the jury returned a not guilty verdict on both counts on the indictment.

An emotional Garda Flynn, surrounded by his supportive family thanked his counsel, and shook hands with garda colleagues and the prosecution before leaving the courtroom.