STANDING TRIAL

Garda sergeant appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman, burglary and perverting the course of justice

He is the second person to come before the courts since the probe commenced

• Published: 14:38, 19 Mar 2024
• Updated: 14:38, 19 Mar 2024

A GARDA sergeant is to stand trial accused of false imprisonment of a woman, perverting the course of justice and burglary in Dublin.

The Garda Anti-Corruption Unit has been investigating the activities of a particular Garda unit based in the Dublin region.

Ciaran Whelan, 51, with an address at Nenagh, Co Tipperary, who has worked out of the detective unit in Store Street station in central Dublin, was arrested earlier this month and charged.

He had been given station bail to appear before Judge William Aylmer at Dublin District Court today.

He faces multiple charges concerning alleged offences from June 19 until September 27, 2021.

He is accused of false imprisonment of a named woman at St John’s Road West, Dublin 8, on September 7.

A Garda yesterday appeared in court charged with trespass, theft and false imprisonment of a woman.

Colum Ryan, 35, with an address in Meath, is the third serving garda member to appear in court arising from the same investigation by the Garda Anti-Corruption Unit of a particular unit based in the Dublin region. A Peace Commissioner has also appeared in court earlier this week charged with offences arising from the investigation.

Ryan appeared before Judge William Alymer at Dublin District Court charged with five offences. He is accused of creating and printing a search warrant and information on September 30, 2021, for a search that occurred on September 7, 2021, at a basement flat on Dublin’s Mountjoy Square North with the intention of perverting the course of justice.

He is also accused of procuring the signature of a named man and that of Peace Commissioner Steven Wrenn on a date between September 30, 2021, and December 8, 2021, on information for a search at the basement flat on September 7, 2021. He is further accused of entering a basement flat building at Mountjoy Square North in Dublin 1 as a trespasser and theft as well as falsely imprisoning a woman on September 7, 2021. ACU Detective Sergeant Kieran Kilcoyne told Judge Alymer the accused made “no reply” when charged at Irishtown Garda Station on March 11.