MAURICE MCCABE HAS said that he wouldn’t wash or bathe his own children, or be around if friends brought their own children over, after he was accused of sexual assault and subsequently exonerated over a decade ago.
His story featured on RTÉ’s documentary Whistleblower this evening, where McCabe told his story about the saga that culminated in the Disclosures Tribunal report.
Last month, Mr Justice Peter Charleton found that there was a “campaign of calumny” against McCabe by former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan, that was “actively aided” by his press officer Superintendent David Taylor.
The judge said McCabe was “repulsively denigrated for being no more than a good citizen and police officer”.
In 2006, the daughter of a colleague of McCabe’s in Cavan made an allegation that he had sexually abused her when he was a child.
She claimed that the sergeant had tickled her and touched her inappropriately during a game of hide and seek. The matter was investigated and a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
It exonerated McCabe and no charges were brought. Despite this, McCabe told RTÉ that the allegation had a huge effect on his life.
When McCabe subsequently highlighted examples of wrongdoing and substandard practices by some gardaí in the district, these matters were investigated.
However, this investigation did not uphold many of his complaints, and a circular was sent around to local gardaí vindicating their professionalism.
The circular’s author, now-retired chief superintendent Colm Rooney, told the Tribunal this year that this vindiation was “not warranted”.
“[But] the harm was done,” McCabe said. “The harm was done to me.”
“It broke him. Completely. He had shown them the hard evidence… nothing was ever going to change,” his wife Lorraine said.
McCabe said that he was subject to social media abuse during this time, including a photo of a plastic rat that had been pierced with darts by fellow gardaí with his name underneath.
There were 11 pictures of off-duty guards in Bailieborough. They had a plastic rat and it showed them sticking darts into it. And it also showed obscene sexual gestures with the rat and underneath the photographs was the word ‘Maurice’. Then there was a comment ‘cheese eating rat bastard’ underneath.
The Tribunal found that, in the years that followed, McCabe would go on to be subject to this “campaign of calumny” from the most senior garda at the time – commissioner Martin Callinan.
Maurice McCabe retired from An Garda Síochána last week, after over 30 years of service. He is currently engaged in High Court proceedings Martin Callinan, the Department of Justice, the office of the garda commissioner and the attorney general.
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