IRELAND
Irish Examiner
A Wicklow detective has been acquitted of forging a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to the investigation of a priest accused of sexual abuse.
Detective Garda Catherine McGowan (48), who is based at Bray Garda Station, had pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two counts of using a false instrument at Bray Garda Station and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.
The instrument was alleged to have been a letter from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), dated January 14, 2009.
After a 14-day trial a jury of six men and six women took just under four hours to return unanimous verdicts of not guilty on all three counts.
The State had alleged that Gda McGowan had forged the letter to “hoodwink” gardaí who were reviewing whether she had acted properly in investigating allegations of sexual abuse by a priest of a teenage girl.
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