Jail for garda who used Kentstown bus tragedy to take cash for bogus brake tests

A corrupt garda who used the tragic Kentstown bus crash of 2005 and the pretence of a sick child as excuses for demanding money for bogus brake tests has been jailed for three years in what a judge described as a total abuse of his power.

Joseph Doyle, 38, who was Acting Public Service Vehicle inspector for Co Meath pleaded guilty at Trim Circuit Court to 29 sample charges of deception and corruption when he induced victims to pay sums of money ranging from €20 to €250 for fictitious brake tests, fictitious charities and Article 60 licences during his role from 2018 to 2020 through which he received at least €3,585.

Doyle, of The Hawthorns in Kilcock, Co Kildare, had initially faced trial last month on 89 offences of deception, corruption and money laundering. However, he dramatically changed his plea to one of guilty on Day 3 of his trial at Trim Circuit Court in June to 29 sample charges of deception and corruption.

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The charges of deception relate to deceiving PSV drivers that they had to pay for bogus brake tests in order for them to get their PSV licences and deceiving PSV licence holders they needed to pay €60 for Article 60 licences to allow them transport school children. Article 60 licences are free.

Father-of-three Doyle, who was suspended from the force on basic pay since his arrest in April 2021, is now due to resign, the court heard. However, Judge John Martin ordered that under Section 17 (4) of the Corruption Offences Act he forfeited Doyle’s employment forthwith.

Detective Garda James King of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation told the court it was “an enormously complicated investigation.”

He said Doyle used the tragic Kentstown bus crash of 2005 that claimed the lives of five secondary school students as his excuse for the “additional brake tests” he charged public service vehicles operators for. Judge Martin said “using the Kentstown bus crash was a particularly disturbing aspect” of the case.

He also used the excuse of collecting the money for bogus charitable donations to send a sick child, who did not exist, to the US for treatment, for a charity skydive and for a school.

Det Gda King said when PSV operators were booking their vehicles they were asked by Doyle to bring €25 to pay for the additional bogus brake test when only one brake test was required which is included in the standard Commercial Vehicle Roadworthy Test (CVRT).

Several other PSV operators were asked to pay €60 for an Article 60 licence which allows them to carry school children. However, Det Gda King said the Article 60 licence is free.

When Doyle was carrying out the bogus brake tests during PSV inspections, vehicles assembled at the entrance of a garage facility in Co Meath, Doyle then drove the vehicle for 10 minutes and told the vehicle operator the brakes were fine and charged them.

Det Gda Doyle said a number of vehicle operators paid in cash, a number were told to leave the payee on cheques blank while a number of vehicle operators made cheques out to the garage facility. These cheques were not cashed in, the court heard.

“There could have been up to 10 vehicles a day there, one every 15 minutes,” said Det Gda King.

Det Gda King said a number of vehicle operators “were sceptical about the €25 payment and felt they had no alternative as he was the only inspector who could inspect their vehicles.”

One victim, the court heard, queried Doyle as to why he was only getting a two-year licence and why he was being charged for a brake test that wasn’t being charged for in other counties.

“Doyle then rang him and asked him what the problem was,” said Det Gda King.

Det Gda King said Doyle became irate and asked the victim: “What’s your f**king problem? It’s only a brake test.”

Doyle then told the victim: “F**k off back to Dublin and get tested elsewhere. Get out of my face. I don’t want to do your tests. I can get you stopped at every checkpoint and make your life a misery.”

A second victim, who paid Doyle €100 on the pretext it was a charitable donation, had already paid for six brake tests. The cash, Det Gda King said, was left on the dashboard of the buses when they were being tested.

However, the victim said she felt “vulnerable” as Doyle told her her husband failed a breath test on a school run, which the court heard never happened and there was no evidence of any breath test on the victim’s husband.

In Victim Impact Statements read out in court, a victim said she gave Doyle “€100 in good faith for a sick child who needed treatment in America,” and was disgusted Doyle deceived her in such a manner as the sick child did not exist.

“He tainted my view of gardai now. Using a sick child to gain money is the lowest act in life,” the victim said.

Another victim said Doyle rang them telling them not to make a statement about him and that he “used bullying tactics” by saying he would give them their money back.

Defence barrister Kathleen Leader said Doyle is “very, very regretful” of his actions and “lost his way along the way.”

“He worked hard to become a garda to help people and lost his way along the way. He feels he has let everybody down – gardai, the public and his family and he apologises.”

“He is glad his late father isn’t here to see him today as he was proud of him being a garda,” said Ms Leader, adding that Doyle “has finally faced up to his wrong doing.”

She said Doyle has €8k available after he sold his car and got help from family and friends. He knows they are very serious offences and any custodial element will have a significant difficulty for a garda.

Judge Martin said it was “a fall from grace” but one of Doyle’s “own doing.”

“You abused your position of significant importance and authority and you were in a position to control whether or not a PSV could carry on a livelihood or not,” the judge said, adding that Doyle’s “sole motivation was one of greed.”

“You abused, exploited and betrayed people and their livelihoods and abused your power. You knew you had them over a barrel and exploited your position and undermined the public’s confidence in An Garda Siochana,” the judge continued.

“And using the Kentstown bus crash to convince your Superintendent that more needs to be done for road safety is a disturbing aspect to your premeditation,” the judge said and ordered the €8k to be given to the injured parties to reimburse their losses and to LauraLynn and Barretstown charities.

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