Mayo man convicted of assaulting garda sergeant tells court he was 'set up' and 'framed'

A MAYO man who was convicted of assaulting a garda sergeant in a hit-and-run has told a court he was “set up” and “framed” by gardaí, writes Jaccica Magee

Joseph (Joe) Doocey (51), with an address at Knoxbarret, Ballina, is due to have his sentence finalised at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on December 20.

He was found guilty by unanimous verdict two months ago of 11 counts including endangerment and assault causing harm to Sergeant Declan Casey at or near Font Cross, Ballina on June 8, 2015.

Endangerment is defined as intentional or reckless behaviour that creates a “substantial risk of death or serious harm to another."

Doocey was also convicted of dangerous driving, failure to report the injury of Sgt Casey, criminal damage, failing to stop, failing to give information, leaving the scene and driving without valid tax displayed.

He had denied all charges against him but was convicted by jury after an nine-day trial in October of this year.

In a victim impact statement read out in court on his behalf, Sgt Casey described Doocey as a “liar and a law unto himself” who had caused “untold distress” to him and his family through his “twisted and self-serving campaign for justice”.

Sgt Casey said while his knee had healed from the injuries he sustained in the hit-and-run, he experienced daily flashbacks of the “shock, fear, pain” he felt and “the sensation of a car running over you and having to scramble out of the way”.

He said his knee ligament was torn causing “excruciating pain” and requiring surgery which left him unable to work for nine months.

The court heard that Doocey was a former member of two groups called Anti-Corruption Taskforce and Integrity Ireland.

Judge Melanie Greally adjourned the sentence after she ascertained from the defence counsel that Doocey would be willing to desist from his “campaign of hostility” against Sgt Casey, his family, friends and colleagues as a condition of his sentencing.

Mr. Maurice Coffey BL, prosecuting, agreed to furnish the defence with a list of people to be covered by the condition.

The court heard that on June 8, 2015, Doocey was stopped at a checkpoint on Bury Street, Ballina, which had been set up by gardaí on foot of information received.

Sgt Casey and his colleague, Garda Peter Kearins, asked Doocey if they could speak to him in relation to a traffic incident three days earlier on June 5.

Detective Sergeant Gerry Lee told Mr. Coffey that Doocey did not stop at the checkpoint but instead shunted his car forward, hitting Sgt Casey on the legs.

Doocey then drove the car, a silver Avensis belonging to his 80-year-old father, up onto the footpath, forcing Gda Kearins to jump out of the way, before driving off at speed.

The court heard that when Doocey got caught in traffic, Sgt Casey caught up with him on foot and asked him to get out of the car.

Doocey refused to stop and instead reversed, knocking Casey to the ground and driving over his foot, before ramming into a van several times.

The civilian driver of the van became aware that gardaí were trying to stop Doocey and came to their assistance, resulting in damage to his van costing €12,000 which he paid for himself.

CCTV footage of the incident showed Doocey's car revving and the tyres spinning as he undertook what prosecution described as “very dangerous manoeuvres” as Sgt Casey lay “injured and helpless” in the middle of the junction.

The court heard that Gda Kearins took out his baton and struck Doocey's car three times in an attempt to stop him, which was captured on CCTV.

Photographs of the car showed two areas of damage on Doocey's car consistent with having been hit by a baton, along with the wind guard on the driver's window which was broken by the baton.

Doocey sped off in the direction of Killala in the car which was later found abandoned in a cemetery.

Mr. Coffey said that Doocey claimed during trial that photos of the car and the van were “effectively a fit-up” and that his car had been batoned “dozens of times”, but that this did not tally with eyewitness accounts or CCTV footage.

Doocey left the jurisdiction, returned nine months later, and was arrested on February 1, 2016 in Portarlington.

His bail was revoked after an application by gardaí and he has been in custody since July 24 this year.

The court heard that Doocey has a number of previous convictions, including harassment via a hoax phone call and text messages in 2001, which Doocey said were currently under appeal. Further convictions included criminal damage, obstruction of a peace officer and threatening behaviour in a public place.

Judge Greally returned a letter from Doocey unread which had been handed to her, and said she could not enter into private correspondence with him and that anything he wished to say must be said in open court.

Doocey took the stand and told the court that gardaí had begun a “campaign of harassment/intimidation” against him going back 16 or 17 years.

“The more I try to address it, the more intense the campaign by the gardaí becomes,” he said, claiming that he had been “beaten up” by gardaí on occasion and “brought to court and framed.”

Doocey said he had an affidavit from a person who said he had been forced by Ballina gardaí to sign a statement against him in the Book of Evidence.

“I committed no crime; I don't commit crime; anything I do, I do for the good of the community,” said Doocey.

He claimed that “witnesses were planted in this case by the gardaí,” that CCTV footage had been “tampered with”, and that photographs of the car were “cherry-picked”.

“I've been set up by the gardaí,” he said.

Mr. Paul Flannery SC, defending Doocey, said that the probation services had been unable to write a report as Doocey did not accept the verdict of the jury.

Doocey said, “the way she (the probation officer) explained it, was that because I don't do drugs, don't drink, don't do gambling (sic), I wasn't really a candidate for probation”.

Mr. Flannery said his client lived with his partner and his father on a 30-acre farm in Mayo.

He said Doocey was a hard-working man who had gone to England after repeating the Leaving Cert, worked in construction and continued working in Ireland from about 1994 until the crash of 2008/2008 when his fortunes changed.

“This man has strong beliefs but is fundamentally an honest man. I'm afraid that for his strong opinions, he may suffer. In a lot of ways, he's a good man,” said Mr Flannery.

The court heard Doocey's father recently had an operation and that Doocey was caring for him.

Doocey was remanded in continuing custody.