Please see article below published in the Irish Examiner on Friday 25th January 2012. By Sean O’Riordan.
A county councillor who voluntarily took a lie detector test has spoken of his “huge relief” after the High Court quashed his conviction for assault. Cllr Danny Crowley, aged 48, was so convinced of his innocence he presented the lie detector test to the High Court as part of his two-year legal battle to clear his name.
The married father of three and his brother, Michael, aged 45, were convicted at Bantry District Court on Mar 26, 2011, of assaulting a man in a pub at Trafrask, near their home of Adrigole. The Fianna Fáil councillor said some comments posted on social media after the district court case;
were very upsetting for me and my wife, but much more so for the younger members of the family.I was never in court in my life before.
said the councillor, a peace commissioner and a member of the Co Cork joint policing committee.
I decided that however long it was going to take me, I’d continue to seek justice and that’s what I did.
The district court convicted him and his brother of assaulting the man and fined them €2,000 each. After the case, he travelled to Dun Laoghaire of his own accord where he underwent a polygraph test at the offices of Lie Detector Ltd. There he was asked four questions pertinent to the case, including if he had assaulted a named man at The Sugar Loaf Bar, Trafrask, on Mar 5, 2010. He was also asked if he had any physical contact with that person, was verbally abusive to him, or engaged in threatening behaviour on the night in question.
Cllr Crowley, employed by Cork County VEC to work with early school- leavers, answered “no” to each of the questions and the polygraph results in each case pointed to him telling the truth. His brother Michael, a co-ordinator with Cork County VEC, also had his conviction quashed.