Overview
- GNBCI officers searched Eamon O’Neill and Sgt Anne Marie Hassett’s Ennis home around 6:30am on May 16, 2019, arrested O’Neill at the scene, and brought him to Athlone Garda Station for Section 62 questioning.
- Investigators seized six mobile phones, an iPad and a USB memory stick at the house, including four phones from a bedroom safe, and later recovered another phone from a Garda station.
- Detective Sergeant Maria Cassells said Detective Inspector Michael McNulty led the Section 62 disclosure probe, and she agreed no criminal charges resulted from that line of inquiry.
- Defense counsel argued the operation was intended to be discreet and said the raid became widely publicised, including an alleged social media video, which a GNBCI witness said he did not know about.
- The State says citizens sought help with fixed charge penalty notices and portrays O’Neill as the common denominator across 39 counts, and all five defendants plead not guilty as the jury trial continues Wednesday.