‘Dublin crime out of control’ – Trailblazing judge opens up on 18 years on bench

A FORMER Dublin judge has put the boot into Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Justice Minister Helen McEntee — and raged: Crime is out of control.

Judge Gillian Hussey spent 18 years on the bench in the nation’s capital where she crossed paths with low-lifes, including hated gang boss John Gilligan, notorious drug dealer Tony Felloni and paedophile priest Fr Tony Walsh.

Renowned for being firm but fair, between 1984 to 2002 she earned the nickname Reverend Mother and was known by those who came across her as Legend of the Bench.

However, in an exclusive interview with the Irish Sun on Sunday, the retired judge blasted Commissioner Harris and Minister McEntee over the state of Dublin now — with last November’s riots bringing violence to the city’s most prominent streets.

She admitted she has not set foot on the capital’s streets since 2019, and “has no intention of going back”.

Judge Hussey, 86, told The Irish Sun on Sunday: “I do think Dublin has got worse for many, many reasons — for both services and crime.

“We have a load of homeless people, through no fault of their own.

“For some, it’s just because they came into the country.

“We have a lot of criminal fraternity. I know the Minister for Justice said Dublin is such a safe place, and all I could do was laugh.

“There are parts of Dublin I would no more go near when I was working, never mind nowadays.”

One of her key cases is that of Fr Walsh. The sicko was known as The Singing Priest and appeared before Judge Hussey in 1995 when she worked in Kilmainham Court.

Fr Walsh was charged with ­sexually assaulting a 12-year-old after the funeral of the boy’s grandfather in Ballyfermot.

The priest insisted he was not guilty, but Hussey said: “He convicted himself with his body language.”

She added: “Tony Walsh was a fine looking man.

“I knew he was a reverend father and he was charged with sexually assaulting this young boy.

“The boy stood beside me in the witness box. I didn’t look at him, I kept my eyes on Tony Walsh.

“And he came into the witness box and said he wasn’t guilty, that he and his friend had been off somewhere looking at cars, and I said, ‘I’m not interested in cars’.”

PERV ENJOYED RETELLING OF HIS CRIMES

Judge Hussey penned a book, ­Lessons from the Bench in 2022, and said his case was one she included.

She said: “He was taking pleasure in what that young boy was talking about. I convicted him.

“Well, he’d convicted himself with his body language.”

She added: “It’s something I will never forget. Years later a solicitor mentioned Tony Walsh, and he said, ‘I was there, in the back of the court.

“It was an inspired decision, how did you make it?’ And I said, ‘That’s the difference — you were in the back of the court, I was facing him. I had eyes for nobody except him.’”

She said it was clear perv Walsh enjoyed the retelling of his crimes.

Retired 22 years, Judge Hussey said her years spent on the bench in Dublin’s criminal courts in the 80s and 90s were “eye-opening”.

She added that Dublin has changed since her time — not always for the better.

Judge Hussey worked as a judge in multiple Dublin courts including the Bridewell, the Children’s Court, and Kilmainham Court.

She said her life-changing career almost didn’t happen, and she became a judge “purely by accident”.

She said: “I was working in a solicitor’s office near Baggot Street and I was going up Herbert Street and this young male solicitor was coming down. I had known him for many, many years and he said to me, ‘They’re looking for a woman judge in the district court, why don’t you apply?’ I said, ‘Me, why me?’ and went about my business.

“That evening I went home, and my kids were near teenage years and I stupidly said it to them. And of course they said, ‘Well why wouldn’t you apply?’

DECISION TO TAKE THE JOB

“I had never done a CV in my life. People, especially women, didn’t have to do CVs in those days because they didn’t really apply for jobs.

“My first cousin’s wife was Gemma Hussey, then Minister for Education. I rang her and a couple of weeks later she rang me and she said, ‘The Government are going to appoint you next week alongside two men’.”

Ms Hussey said her first reaction to the job offer was “stuff it” but she decided to give it a go — and “I have to say I’ve had a great life ever since”.

She went on: “I was appointed the next week with these two men.

“I had no idea about the Criminal Court, because ‘ladies didn’t do crime’ as they said.”

But Judge Hussey quickly learned about the world of crime in Dublin, and came face to face with some of the most notorious figures of the day.

‘THE WAREHOUSE MAN’

Long before Walsh, in the early days of her career, Hussey was moved to the Bridewell Court, where, she admitted, she was “absolutely terrified”.

She recalled meeting a man known as ‘The Warehouse Man’ when he appeared before her in the dock.

He was asking for video tapes that detectives had taken out of his van. Judge Hussey came face to face with this criminal — who most people now know under another name.

She remembered: “I said to him, ‘Are you working?’

“And he shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Never worked a day in my life’.

“It turns out to be a stock and trade answer that he gave, but I didn’t know what he meant.”

She continued: “I discovered that he was in custody down in the cells because he had already been caught cleaning out a ­warehouse of dishwashers and washing machines.

“He was known as the ­Warehouse Man — and he was John Gilligan.”

Judge Hussey reflected: “The case was eye-opening for a number of reasons.

“I didn’t live in that world, and it was a very quick lesson in how to understand some of it.”