Chapter 7

After Swords, I moved to Bray to stay with a friend until I could find somewhere more suitable for myself. I stayed with him for about two months. He allowed me the time I needed to try to recover from the trials of the previous two houses I had lived in. To this day, I still don’t feel recovered.

While there, I became friends with one of my his friends. He shared a house with two others, and I used to spend time over there. We all got friendly, and when they all knew that I was looking for somewhere to live, they offered to sublet the sitting room to me for €100 a month each, paid to them. To me this was the best room in the house. It had a couch bed that was indeed very comfortable, as I had slept on it a few nights already, so I agreed.

For the first couple of months, the arrangement worked fine.

But then things changed. One of the women in the house decided she wanted me out. I don’t know why exactly but the rumour was that she wanted to move a new boyfriend in which meant she had to get me out. She started arguments, little things at first, but they escalated quickly.

I threatened to call the Garda once or twice to try to get her to calm down. She told me to go ahead because she had friends in the Garda and they would sort me out. I ignored her claim, but that changed.

Then one night, she went way too far. Late that night, after an argument over her playing very loud music, she had a friend with her and they called two men to the house, and they attacked me.

I barricaded my bedroom door at first. This action stopped them getting into my bedroom, despite them kicking the door. One of the door hinges was broken so you had to lift it to open it. That’s what actually stopped them getting in. They were trying very hard, but they couldn't get the door open.

When I saw my chance, I ran upstairs. My housemate was up there with another friend. The people who came to attack me had gone back out the front. But they heard me and followed me upstairs. This now included being attacked by a dog.

They had her dog, which usually lived with an ex-boyfriend of hers, with them, riled up. Luckily for me, my friend, also had a pit bull. This dog, Mildrid, knew me well and immediately attacked the other dog. While this was happening, I was getting punched in the face.

The shouting and noise were so loud that the neighbours came out onto the road to see what was happening. The Gardaí arrived eventually. They had been called by me at least 3 times at that point. With the neighbours out on the road, God knows how many times overall they were called that night.

Garda Jonas Whitehead—or Whitehouse, as far as I know—was one of the officers who attended. I told him what had happened—that I’d been attacked and that my wisdom tooth had been knocked loose from the blows I received. It took about a week for the tooth to fall out completely.

I saw him taking a statement from the girl who caused all the trouble with me outside the house. At the front, with the two of them leaning up against the wall, as if they were having a chat. That seemed very unusual to me. The two of them smiling and chatting as the Garda took notes. I have never ever seen a Garda take notes like that before.

Not too long after, we were all in the kitchen and she was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs. The two who came to attack me were outside with the other Garda.

Garda Whitehead was standing behind her kitchen chair, leaning on it with both arms, looking very protective, caveman-like, ‘mine,’ that’s the vibe I got anyway. This was as he was explaining to me how he wanted me to get out of the house. While she was looking at me and smiling, he then told me he wanted me to leave the house there and then again. I said no. I had nowhere to go and I would start looking for somewhere tomorrow after work.

The other two residents of the house then laid into the Garda, verbally only of course, about how she had caused all the trouble. How she had called her friends to the house. How she was always causing trouble and if anyone had to go it was her.

After that night, I couldn’t get in touch with Garda Whitehead. I spent months trying to follow up, but it was like I didn’t exist. Eventually, I spoke to Inspector Harrington, who got Whitehead to finally call me. What he told me left me stunned.

He said he had called to the house the next day and that someone—whose name he couldn’t remember told him I didn’t want to pursue the matter. I asked him to check his pocketbook or his notes to see who said that to him and he told me he didn't write it down.

What a load of codswallop.

Still, I kept pushing. I contacted Inspector Harrington again and I asked him how he was going to deal with the situation. Eventually, Inspector Harrington assigned Garda Roisin Byrne to the case. She took my statement. While asking questions of me during the interview, she asked why it took so long for me to make a statement, and I told her exactly why and what had been happening. As far as I know she didn't put this information into my statement. Instead for months, it dragged on. I kept asking for updates, trying to get justice for what had happened to me.

I called Garda Byrne to find out what was going on. This was one of the many phone calls from me trying to get her. When she came on the phone, she told me directly that I was ‘lucky I wasn’t being prosecuted’ — and that truly shocked me.

So that left me thinking. Why was this Garda, Garda Roisin Byrne unable to gather the evidence, or follow whatever procedures were needed to lead to a prosecution? And that the girl’s claims were true and she was having an affair with a Garda, and this was just them making this all go away? That's what I'm left wondering.

She stirred up trouble, called her Garda boyfriend and the only way they could get rid of me in the end was to have another Garda threaten me? This is of course my opinion but it's what I'm left wondering without answers.

Why is nobody being prosecuted for assaulting me in my home?

Make you think wouldn't it.

She told me that I was lucky I wasn’t being prosecuted. Imagine that—I was attacked in a house, had my tooth knocked out, and after months of fighting to be heard, I was the one being threatened with prosecution.

How do you end up being prosecuted for getting attacked in your home, while in your bed?

After that incident in Bray, I found a place to stay with a very nice family. This was a shed in the back garden but beggars can’t be choosers. I had full use of the kitchen and bathroom in the house, it was on Dargle Rd. Bray. They were originally from China, a hardworking couple who ran a shop, I think it was in Celbridge. They had two young kids. They sent the kids on holidays to their grandparents just before lockdown. Believe it or not, it was Wuhan, China they were from. Now that’s a coincidence! The children didn’t get back home for nearly a year because of the lockdown.