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Updated 8.20 pm
A REPORT INTO the Corrib ‘rape tape’ controversy has revealed that a garda who was present at the time heard one of the protesters refer to rape as two women were being arrested.
The controversy surrounds an alleged recording of several gardaí who joked about raping and deporting two women following their arrest during protests against the Corrib gas project on 31 March 2011.
The report, which is based on an interim progress report by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) and was published by the Justice Minister Alan Shatter today, details that:
During the course of the investigation with Garda members, it was suggested that another Garda member may have overheard one of the females using the word ‘rape’ during the course of their arrest, and prior to the word bring used by any Garda member.
The report also details that this line of inquiry was pursued and a garda who was present when the women were arrested gave the following statement:
As the prisoners were being brought to the cars to transport them to the station, one of them kept shouting something like ‘she is not safe on her own with ye’ or ‘she is not safe with ye’ and I also heard her shout ‘she could be raped by ye’. I am not sure which protester said this. Both of them were shouting. I did mention this to some of my colleagues after the controversial tapes were released to the media.
According to the report it has not been possible to verify this statement from video recordings made at the time of the arrests.
The garda remarks at the centre of the controversy were recorded on a camcorder seized from one of the women. It had been placed in the pocket of one of the gardaí while it was still recording.
The reports states that although the quality of the recording is poor, a transcript of the comments by the gardaí has been made and appears to support the allegations of comments made about rape and deportation.
The camcorder was not handed over to the GSOC until 14 April, and it was then handed over to the Forensic Science Service of Northern Ireland, which was unable to retrieve a number of files which has been deleted or overwritten.
The report details that files were deleted immediately prior to the GSOC taking possession of the camcorder. It also says that the significance of the deleted files to the investigation is not known.
Shell to Sea spokesperson Caoimhe Kerins has told RTÉ that the recording of the gardaí was not tampered with, and that the entire file for that day was made available. She said that the files that had been removed were ‘academic’.
According to the Irish Times, files containing research material which did not relate to the Corrib incident were removed before the camcorder was given to the GSOC. This has been confirmed by NUI Maynooth.
As reported earlier, no criminal charges will be placed against any of the Gardaí involved. The investigation is ongoing, and disciplinary action may be taken against two of those involved, while the other three have been vindicated.
The report details how all of the gardaí, and one of the women involved, were interviewed. The second woman failed to cooperate. She made no complaint and is now working overseas.
The report details how neither of the women was threatened personally with rape or with being deported, and how they only became aware of the alleged conversation after the event and following their release.
The Shell to Sea group has said that some form of disciplinary action must arise out of the incident, and that a ‘slap on the wrist’ will not be enough.
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Another political article on behalf of the Government.
Please, Journal, be honest with people.
In the US Presidential Election, at least the media outlets declared their preference and bias.
It’s the least you owe us.
@Garry Coll: hunger strike is the only solution lol
@Paul M Doe:
Not for me.
@Garry Coll: what bias, just reporting verifies facts from meta. Please point to the bias
@Paul M Doe: I just scrolled down half a mile to get to comments,, left wing media sure make it difficult, still drying they/them eyes,
@Joe Mc Dermott: jajajaja,or you could just clicked on the thing that says comments under the headline saving your poor little fingies the trauma
@Joe Mc Dermott: Do your Right Wing Media sources publish the comments above articles?
@Garry Coll: You don’t like facts and truth if you object to this article.
@Garry Coll: Did ya not know The Journal changed their name to CNN?
@HisMastersAlibi: That doesn’t work for me on Iphone 13, takes me to the top of the article, tried other articles, same.
Sharia Fein down the drain. Vote Independent/Nationalist.
Keep Hamas/Hezbollah out of Ireland!!!
@Finian McG: isn’t it time u went to bed and stop spouting drivel…
@Clare Power: are you a misandrist? Who are you to tell a man how to live his life?
@Finian McG: You just told people to vote for a particular party!! I would think a bit more before u reply in the future…
@Clare Power: what particular party ….think a bit now….
@Finian McG: good deflection..
@Clare Power: …from you lol!…what particular party did I recommend voting for?
@Finian McG: that would be the party of racists and trouble makers…Hamas in Ireland…please…
@Clare Power: Hamas in Ireland? That party would be Sharia Fein, surely?
You still say what particular party I recommended voting for…
@Finian McG: don’t mind that Karen
SF as usual is making a concerted effort to control social media. It is obvious from the thumbs up on snide remarks about FF or FG and their standing in the polls. Now we get a picture of their spending on advertisements on social media.
@Vincent Alexander: meanwhile FFG bootlickers are up at all hours of night trolling and trying to offend as many people as possible. Never seen a classless comment from a SF supporter, you can’t say the same…
@Eoin .h: Just read the first line and you contradict your own comment
NCH 2.2 Billion..
RTE 750 Million..
Security Hut 550,000..
Bike Shed 336,000..
@Michale Kane: how many are in the pedo ring?
@Paul M Doe: Dunno… ask your hero Trump ? Or BK’s in FF & FG ? Sure maybe easier ask them all together at ur next gathering eh ! ..
@Michale Kane: you are hurting shinner, your evil cult has been badly found out :)
@Michale Kane: why are you dense?
@Lefty Cries: the desperation the FFG voters at this point. Trolling around through the night desperate to offend someone
No vote for SF never
@Lefty Cries: Vote ABSF – Anybody But Sinn Féin
@Vincent Alexander: i be voting anyone bar ff or fg. Cost living is effecting lots Irish people.
FG definitely getting my vote
@Lefty Cries: Shinners desperately spending trying to humanise themselves, won’t work lol
Sorry state of affairs, when Ivana Bacik looks better than Micheal Martin
And how money did FG spend on the journal ? lol
@Michale Kane: there are few things on this planet as enjoyable as the shinner persecution complex :D
@Michale Kane: I am enjoying myself
SF spent all that money on a failed campaign lol
@Lefty Cries: or on text messages for the youth vote
The only chance of the Shinners getting elected is if they buy their way in.
@Sam Walsh: well they have the northern bank money, one of their many many crimes
Show me a shinner and I’ll show you a sk umbag
How depressing that the country will more than likely end up with a FFFG coalition. We are now a one party state!!!
@Mike Dunne: It would be worse if we ended up being governed by a Northern Ireland party.
Do these clowns not understand that ad blockers exist?
It’s not going to happen. People may have had enough of the government. But they are absolutely fed up with SF. Party of chaos (internally regarding their own members, and externally if they got anywhere near making decisions that would affect all of us).
After reading one of the most biased articles by this Journalist on ROG & the Greens, it’s really hard to afford this article any credibility. It’s hard to decipher who to believe in Irish MSM anymore. I certainly don’t believe a thing from RTE as their Lies & Misinformation around salaries & corporate governance & their conduct around the Referendums. Irish Journalism is truly dead & in the pocket of lots of vested interests.
have your say