Kildare Garda awarded €50,000 for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Garda Paul Carney from Leixlip Garda Station, who received a Scott medal for bravery, was awarded €50,000.00 in damages in a High Court Garda Compensation hearing.

Justice Barton said that Mr. Carney had acted bravely when he disarmed two robbers in Celbridge with his colleague Garda Thomas Ryan.

The two men had been patrolling Celbridge when they saw two robbers running from a jewellery shop. Garda Carney and his colleague followed the men. The Court heard how Garda Carney was unarmed. Paul Carney said that the robber he was chasing stopped and pointed a gun at him. “It was like my worst nightmare. I feared for my life but I had no option but to engage with him” Garda Carney told the court.

Mr Carney said he disarmed the robber and threw away the gun. When he was about to handcuff the gunman he was confronted by the second robber who had lifted the gun and pointed it at him.

Both men succeeded in arresting the two robbers.

Following this event Garda Carney developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Judge Barton awarded him €50,000 compensation against the State saying that it was a very traumatic incident.

The above case shows how work related incidents not resulting in physical injuries can still have successful results in the Irish Courts.