IRELAND
Herald
BY CONOR GALLAGHER – 24 FEBRUARY 2015
A WICKLOW detective has gone on trial accused of forging a letter from the DPP in relation to the investigation of a priest accused of sexual abuse.
Det Gda Catherine McGowan (48), based in Bray, has pleaded not guilty to one count of forgery on January 15, 2009 at Bray Garda Station and two of using a false instrument there and at Harcourt Street Garda Station between June 21 and 22, 2011.
The instrument is alleged to have been a letter from the office of the DPP dated January 14, 2009.
In his opening speech at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, prosecuting counsel Alex Owens said Gda McGowan had forged the letter to “hoodwink” gardai who were reviewing whether she had acted properly in investigating allegations of abuse of a teenage girl by a priest.
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