A Dublin-based garda has been accused of an unprovoked attack on a man in a bar who has testified that he was "taking selfies" and not photographing the off-duty officer and his colleagues.
Garda Robert Hennessy had pleaded not guilty to assaulting social care worker Michael Finnegan at Cafe en Seine on Dawson Street, Dublin, on December 11th, 2019.
The specialist unit officer who does surveillance work is being prosecuted following a Garda Ombudsman (Gsoc) investigation.
His non-jury trial commenced at Dublin District Court on Friday.
In evidence, Mr Finnegan (40) said he was happy and the day was a milestone because he had finished his first exams at Trinity College. He went for a drink in the Pavilion and later to Cafe en Seine.
He told prosecution counsel Diarmuid Collins that he was taking selfie pictures on his phone, and there were two attractive women in their 30s to his left, and he "made an attempt to chat them up".
He did not know their occupation but said the accused came over and identified himself as a garda.
Mr Finnegan said: "He mentioned he was garda intelligence; I think he was attempting basically to get me to leave the girls alone, but I was not rude to them; I was polite."
He alleged the accused chatted to him but was "under the influence" and very aggressive and that he was punched by him several times. It left him in pain and dizzy, with blood coming out of his mouth and a split lip.
He said he did not hit back. Afterwards, an older man approached and asked if he would consider "shaking hands," but he told the man to "F-off."
Video evidence from the bar was played. Mr Finnegan said he takes selfies for his social media wherever he goes to document every part of his life and was well known for that.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Breffni Gordon, he repeatedly denied videoing or taking pictures of the garda group or telling them, "Here are you having a good night, youse would want to watch yourself, a group of intelligence officers on the town together; you wouldn't know what would happen to you".
Mr Gordon told him that "outing" the officers would be dangerous and stupid, but the witness replied, "I did not do that".
Some prints of his selfies were exhibited in the case.
Questioned about his failure to hand over his phone to gardaí and later Gsoc, he said that was a result of mental health issues, including PTSD, which he has suffered from for years.
Mr Gordon had the CCTV evidence replayed. He pressed the complainant, saying he looked like someone aiming the camera or in video mode rather than taking a selfie.
"I was taking a selfie," he replied, adding that 90 per cent of his social media pics were of himself.
He said he moved around a lot because he was hyper-vigilant as a result of being attacked as a child, and it was a defence mechanism. He also said the bar had a lot of A-list patrons, and if he had been videoing, the security would have "got rid of me there and then."
Counsel suggested that he took an interest in the off-duty gardaí and was observing them, which he denied.
Mr Finnegan said he went to another bar and met the same two women, and one of them said sorry to him.
Mr Gordon said they were not in the video at the time of the blows. He put to Mr Finnegan that he was inserting that into his statement to appear that someone from the garda group apologised and was "poisoning your account".
Mr Finnegan disagreed.
The hearing continues on Monday.
