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‘Give me your name and address or I’ll rape you’: the reality of Corrib policing

category national | miscellaneous | feature author Tuesday April 05, 2011 09:24author by Rossport Solidarity Camp Report this post to the editors

Prominent Gardaí accidentally record their own disturbing conversation

Gardaí in Co Mayo have been recorded talking about threatening to rape a woman in their custody. The Gardaí, including a Sergeant, have been prominent in policing protests against Shell’s inland gas refinery.

The Gardaí arrested two campaigners last Thursday (March 31st, 2011) near a Shell compound at Aughoose and seized their video camera. They inadvertently allowed the camera to continue recording in the squad car in which they travelled the 20km to Belmullet Garda station. The two women travelled in two other Garda cars in the same convoy.

After the women were released without charge, and the camera returned to them, the women discovered the recording of the Garda conversation. They were shocked and disturbed by what they heard.

The recording starts with the women being arrested and the camera been taken by Gardaí. The discussion in the Garda car includes the Gardaí talking about threatening to rape one of the women in their custody and laughing. They also talk about whether they should bother adhering to safety procedures for removing protesters from heights: the Sergeant advocates ignoring the rules learned in Garda training.

Referring to one of the women in their custody, who is travelling in the same convoy, the Sergeant says: “Give me your name and address and I’ll rape you.” The threat is repeated by at least one other Garda, to much laughter.

This is not the first time that campaigners around the Corrib project have been threatened with rape by Gardaí. However, it is the first time that such a clear recording has surfaced.

One of the women involved said: “It was terrifying to hear Gardaí talk in this way about rape. How can women living in the area feel safe when such a culture of brutal intimidation and violence exists here?”

Dublin Shell to Sea spokesperson Caoimhe Kerrins said: “This is shocking and extremely serious. It is very frightening for those of us involved in the campaign. Gardaí are the people that women are supposed to trust when they need to report a rape. Gardaí are supposed to be responsible for bringing rapists to justice.”

There are several video and audio versions of the recording now in existence. This article includes:

• a video of the entire recording on Vimeo, with explanatory text at the start and subtitles on some segments:
http://vimeo.com/21952231

• a link to an audio file (mp3 format with some of the longer silences removed:
Edited audio of entire conversation with silences removed and quality improved

• A 2 min 23 sec audio file (mp3 format, size: 1.1mb) of the opening segment and also the segment in which the Sergeant and Gardaí talk about threatening to rape a woman in their custody. This file is attached on this page.

TRANSCRIPTS OF KEY SEGMENTS:

[ These transcripts, as well as the recording, were provided to the mainstream media by the Rossport Solidarity Camp. The Gardaí in question were named in the original transcripts. The Irish Times changed the name of the Sergeant to “Garda A” and changed the name of the other Garda to “Garda B”. Rossport Solidarity Camp also decided to remove the names of the Gardaí before publishing here, but changed the Sergeant’s name to “Sergeant” and the other named Garda to “Garda A”, and incorporated this into the video file on Vimeo. Hence there seems to be an inconsistency between the Irish Times transcripts and the Indymedia transcripts, but there is not. “Garda B” in the Irish Times is “Garda A” on Indymedia and Vimeo. ]

Sergeant: “Who is them two lassies, do you know the two of them?

Garda A: “I don’t know the second one, the first one is with blonde hair.”

Unidentified Garda: “She was up on the tractor earlier on.”

Sergeant: “It’d do no harm to get the second one’s name again?

Garda A: “She’s some Yank. I don’t know who the fuck she is.”

Unidentified Garda: “ Is she a Yank?

Garda A: “It sounds like it, it sounds like it, the accent anyway

Unidentified Garda: “Sounds like a Yank or Canadian.”

Garda A: “Well whoever, we’ll get Immigration fucking on her.”

Sergeant: “She refused to give her name and address and told she would be arrested.”

Garda A: “.......and deported”

Sergeant: “And raped.”

Garda A: “I wouldn’t go that far yet….. She was living down at that crusty camp, fuck sake, you never know what you might get.”

Sergeant: “Give me your name and address or I’ll rape you.”

Unidentified Garda: “Hold it there, give me your name and address there, I’ll rape you.”

Sergeant: “Or I’ll definitely rape you.”

Unidentified Garda: “Will you be me friend on Facebook?”

[Conversation continues about Facebook in Garda station]

Excerpt from video camera recording in which Gardaí discuss safety and techniques for arrest at protests.

Sergeant: [on phone to a colleague]: “I know we don’t want to be arresting them but by the same token, we were left with no option. We have an issue there as well with the lads in the protest removal team there, of actual climbing the tractors. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to get safety ropes and ladders and we’re going to leave them in the van in case we have to go up on the cab of the tractor again. So we’re looking after that now at the moment.”

Sergeant: ends call.

Garda A: “You see at least you’re a sergeant, like.”

Sergeant: “ like some of auld timers who were here in the area in the first and second campaign. I’ll tell you one thing, the decisions that were made policing at that time.”

Garda A: I’ll still go back to what says there . . . If someone gets hurt we’re going to be on our own in the blocks.”

Sergeant: “. . . I don’t think we’re going to be on our own. If we have exercised due diligence and we have used common sense and used whatever was available to us to remove them. At the end of the day, we have a certain duty of care to them. We ask them to get down, if they don’t get down, we tell them we are taking them down forcefully. We take them down forcefully.

“We use whatever means at our disposal, which includes ladders and ropes or whatever to get them down safely. If one of them slips, so fuckin. What can we do?”

Garda A: “Ladders and ropes. All I’m saying is, the point is

‘Garda, are you a member of the protest removal team?’

’I am.’

’Have you received training with working at heights?’

’Yes, I have.’

. . .’How did you train to bring someone down?’

’In a harness with ropes.’”

“We didn’t have any of them options today there . . . That’s all I’m saying. And is dead right; if we’re in the box:

’Have you received training on how to take a protester down from heights?’

’Yes’.”

“And if we did it with ropes and harnesses . . . then why did you let my client fall? Did you not go get your ropes and harness to take her down. That’s all.”

Sergeant: “. . .To get them down safely we’d have to erect a scaffold tower beside them and abseil them down. And and, the, the, taking the common-sense approach, and a common-sense view, it would be impractical to erect a scaffolding tower to get them down off it. And we use whatever safe means at our disposal, as we considered safe protest removal team to take them down, ie, ropes and ladders.”

Unidentified Garda: “What was the obstruction?”

Garda A: “There was no obstruction . . .”

Sergeant: “They were obstructing the road.”

Garda A: “There was no obstruction . . . The tractors all other vehicles were able to get past.”

Sergeant: “They were obstructing the road. Excuse me. If a car stops there, in the middle of that fucking road, and it’s stopped there, it’s obstructing the road. It doesn’t have to be blocking it. If it’s parked there it’s obstructing it.”

Unidentified Garda: “Well if nothing else they were obstructing the vehicle.”

Garda A: “That’s the only vehicle obstructed.”

Unidentified Garda: “. . . free passage.”

Sergeant: “The vehicle was obstructing the road. Just because other vehicles could pass didn’t mean the road wasn’t being obstructed.”

Sergeant seems to get out of the car . . .

Garda A: “We all said this, it was a safety issue.”

Unidentified Garda: “It was the best option . It was the best option at that time, there’s no doubt about it.”

Garda A: “We all said it because of a safety issue. There was three up, there was a wind blowing. And like did you fucking feel safe, 100 per cent safe going up there taking down two people.”

Unidentified Garda: “No”.

Garda A: “...I don’t know what you thought?”

Unidentified garda: “All I know is that if something happens, who’s going to stand fucking behind me.”

Garda A: “And do you honestly think that is going to turn around and say “oh look it”. We got trained a certain way.

’Garda did you fucking, take a protester down the way you were trained’.

’No I didn’t.’

’Well then Guard.’

“And the job will say were you fucking trained a certain way. The job will fucking ditch you.”

Related Link: http://www.shelltosea.com

One of the two campaigners shortly before being arrested
One of the two campaigners shortly before being arrested

One of the two campaigners shortly before being arrested
One of the two campaigners shortly before being arrested



2 min 23 sec audio clip of segment in which Gardai discuss threatening to rape woman in their custody
audio 2 min 23 sec audio clip of segment in which Gardai discuss threatening to rape woman in their custody 1.09 Mb

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   Unlawful Arrest     Seán Ryan    Tue Apr 05, 2011 04:51 
   If you want to follow     Twitter tag    Tue Apr 05, 2011 05:31 
   Vimeo     Rossport Solidarity Camp    Tue Apr 05, 2011 05:39 
   Arrested for resisting arrest     Stuart    Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:27 
   Function of An Garda Síochána     Article10    Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:43 
   Some things are not possible to discuss     SC    Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:53 
   Back up     Jerry Cornelius    Tue Apr 05, 2011 13:12 
   Dismissal should be automatic.     Ratonal Ecologist    Tue Apr 05, 2011 13:18 
   political cops     olod codger    Tue Apr 05, 2011 14:13 
 10   Audio file broken above     Dublin S2S    Tue Apr 05, 2011 14:26 
 11   Complaining about RTE coverage     Little Miss Cranky    Tue Apr 05, 2011 15:20 
 12   Sickened by State sponsored behaviour of the Gardaí     Sickened    Tue Apr 05, 2011 15:50 
 13   Minister do the right thing!     Ailis    Tue Apr 05, 2011 18:29 
 14   Shameful     Colm    Tue Apr 05, 2011 18:47 
 15   re - article 10     Pedanticist    Tue Apr 05, 2011 19:15 
 16   yes but for some reason ($) some gardai in rossport are not like the others     Citizen    Tue Apr 05, 2011 19:19 
 17   "Secretly taping the cops"     Roowyrm    Tue Apr 05, 2011 20:34 
 18   fake controversy about garda remarks     declan christ    Tue Apr 05, 2011 21:03 
 19   just a bit of banter     mel- 1    Tue Apr 05, 2011 21:08 
 20   Media coverage     Seanbeag    Tue Apr 05, 2011 22:12 
 21   Sexual assault in police custody? sure the hell happens...happened to me!     Ciaron    Tue Apr 05, 2011 22:29 
 22   saying the truth and protect ourselves is sickening?!!!     míol mór    Tue Apr 05, 2011 22:29 
 23   common sense     yachew    Tue Apr 05, 2011 22:34 
 24   @ (sgt) Seanbeag     Feudal Castrato    Tue Apr 05, 2011 22:40 
 25   truly depressing     former glory    Tue Apr 05, 2011 23:03 
 26   they WERE in the garda care     mel - 1    Tue Apr 05, 2011 23:38 
 27   Theres,s always a job with Shell!     Ailis    Tue Apr 05, 2011 23:56 
 28   Rape, jokes, keeping the initiative, losing the plot     Ciaron O'Reilly    Wed Apr 06, 2011 06:11 
 29   History Repeating (sorry if this is a bit graphic but I am only quoting Gardaí)     Cleaver    Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:31 
 30   Its hypocrisy     Sean MacGreine    Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:39 
 31   nonsense Sean     Feudal Castrato    Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:03 
 32   To take serious offence at what the Gardaí said is PCness gone mad.     Ar son na cuise!    Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:40 
 33   Ar son na cuise     Louise    Wed Apr 06, 2011 13:14 
 34   say anything you like as long as nobody hears it     Feudal Castrato    Wed Apr 06, 2011 13:24 
 35   Garda dirty tricks and attacks on campaigners in aftermath of release of rape discussion video     Andrew    Wed Apr 06, 2011 13:38 
 36   YouTube Video: ‘Give me your name and address or I’ll rape you’: the reality of Corrib policing     Rossport Solidarity Camp    Wed Apr 06, 2011 14:29 
 37   9 out of 10 Complaints     Eamonn O'Coillea'in    Wed Apr 06, 2011 14:33 
 38   It;s OK to beat women but don't talk about raping them     old codger    Wed Apr 06, 2011 15:58 
 39   Gerry O'Carroll     Herald reader    Wed Apr 06, 2011 16:18 
 40   angry enough?     lmnop    Wed Apr 06, 2011 16:39 
 41   garda ombudsman     míol mór    Wed Apr 06, 2011 17:57 
 42   this is not about women or rape     gerry    Wed Apr 06, 2011 18:19 
 43   sad to say you are right gerry     Citizen    Wed Apr 06, 2011 19:02 
 44   Two protests     Laurence Cox    Wed Apr 06, 2011 19:48 
 45   Who will police the police     Crusty666    Wed Apr 06, 2011 22:02 
 46   ‘Give me your name and address or I’ll rape you’, the fall out from CORRIBGATE     CORRIBGATE    Thu Apr 07, 2011 09:57 
 47   Be careful what you wish for!     nostradamus    Thu Apr 07, 2011 21:28 
 48   questions stays     míol mór    Thu Apr 07, 2011 23:28 
 49   law     me    Fri Apr 08, 2011 00:06 
 50   Bertie Ohearn Broke the LAW     Eamonn O'Coillea'in    Fri Apr 08, 2011 03:39 
 51   The way forward.     ailis    Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:23 
 52   Confused     Ferdia    Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:40 
 53   The Aarhus Convention is a series of laws     old codger    Fri Apr 08, 2011 15:36 
 54   Further actions     SLH    Sat Apr 09, 2011 14:52 
 55   Ohter article about this     SLH    Sat Apr 09, 2011 23:13 
 56   Report from Dáil protest + New “death threats” against protestor "whistleblowers"     CORRIBGATE    Mon Apr 11, 2011 21:11 
 57   I don't trust them....     Citizen    Mon Apr 11, 2011 22:01 
 58   The moral descendants of the Dublin Guard     Nick    Tue Apr 19, 2011 23:50 
 59   File sent to DPP regarding comments about travellers made on facebook page     V for vendetta    Wed Apr 20, 2011 02:09 
 60   Clarification to 'by me' from Maura Harrington     Maura Harrington    Wed Apr 20, 2011 14:56 
 61   thats a bit ambiguous V     opus diablos    Wed Apr 20, 2011 14:57 
 62   @opus re: ambiguity     V for vendetta    Wed Apr 20, 2011 15:14 


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