Published in partnership with Village Magazine
Heather Humphreys honoured a disgraced ex-garda after he was accused of extreme domestic violence and found by a tribunal to have corruptly organised planting weapons and fabricated evidence.
As justice minister Humphreys posed with former detective Noel McMahon – who allegedly pointed a gun at his then-wife’s head, kicked and punched her and later produced a false court order leading to her wrongful arrest – and presented him with a bravery medal.
Humphreys handed McMahon his award less than four years after the state settled a civil case taken by his ex-wife and conceded she was “wrongfully arrested and detained” because of his actions.
An ‘exceptional award’ said Humphreys
Detective garda Noel McMahon was found by a court in 2002 found detective to have deliberately invented evidence that led to Donegal publican Frank Shortt’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment after drugs were planted in his pub.
McMahon resigned from the guards in 2004 after the Morris tribunal concluded he was a corrupt liar involved in planting hoax bombs and ammunition across the northwest in the early 1990s. He claimed these hoaxes were IRA explosives to advance his career. He was twice convicted of drink driving in 2001 and 2004.
McMahon’s ex-wife – Sheenagh McMahon – told the Morris tribunal her garda husband subjected her to serious abuse and that he had threatened her with his official firearm at their home in Buncrana in 1995.
“He put a gun to my head and he told me he would blow my brains out,” she told the tribunal in March 2003, speaking of years of abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her husband, which included being kicked and punched.
She obtained an apology and €20,000 damages from the state in January 2018 over a 1999 wrongful arrest brought about after McMahon produced a bogus safety order against her.
“The Defendants (An Garda Síochána, Noel McMahon and the state) concede liability on the basis that they accept that the plaintiff was wrongfully arrested and detained on 30th June, 1999 by reason of the arresting garda executing a safety order produced by the plaintiff’s husband which in fact had never been issued by the District Court,” said the apology read before the High Court in 2018.
Three years later Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys honoured McMahon as “truly heroic”.
Heather Humphreys presents Noel McMahon with his award less than four years after the state settled with his ex-wife
In September 2021, as justice minister, Heather Humphreys attended a ceremony where McMahon and other gardaí were awarded the Scott Medal for bravery for his part in the 1983 rescue of businessman Don Tidey after his kidnapping by the Provisional IRA.
Humphreys and commissioner Drew Harris were filmed presenting McMahon with his Scott Medal.
Humphreys told McMahon and his colleagues they were receiving an “exceptional award”.
“Your actions on that day were truly heroic. You performed your duty as garda members and for that we are thankful. You are honoured with this exceptional award,” as reported by Donegal News.
Another woman, Karen McGlinchey, settled a High Court action against McMahon in 2011 after also alleging he had assaulted her.
There is no suggestion whatsoever of wrongdoing on the part of any of the other gardaí awarded the Scott Medal at the September 2021 ceremony and they have no link to McMahon or the allegations and findings made against him.
Humphreys has been contacted for comment.
