Tom Tuite
A woman accused of leading 20 Garda cars and a helicopter on a live-streamed pursuit on the M50 has been ordered to hand over her passport to prevent her leaving the country.
Gemma Greene, 24, appeared again today at Dublin District Court, which tightened her bail with a range of conditions including an order to stay sober and obey a curfew.
Greene, who has built a huge following on social media, has been charged in connection with the pursuit which was live-streamed online, on the night of March 1st last.
Gardaí followed a car on the M50 until it stopped at Hampton Wood Drive area of Ballymun. Footage with her recorded singing to music went viral.
After the incident, she was arrested, charged and granted station bail to appear in court last Thursday. Judge Treasa Kelly had then ordered her to go home and return today to finish quarantine because she had recently been out of the country.
Ms Greene, from Bunratty Road, Coolock, Dublin, is charged with two counts of dangerous driving, on the M50 at junctions 4 and 9 northbound.
The case resumed today.
Tendency to travel
Garda Jane Keegan told Judge Kelly that the accused had a tendency to leave the country and had recently been in Spain. She had also given newspaper interviews stating she intended to leave the jurisdiction, Garda Keegan said.
For those reasons, she asked the court to amend Ms Greene's bail and insert several conditions: stay out of Ballymun, remain sober, surrender her passport, reside at her current address, obey a curfew at her home, and sign on daily at Coolock garda station.
At that point, the accused interjected from the dock and accused the garda of taking the case personally.
“Why do I have to stay out of Ballymun? You are taking this very personal, you are. Why don’t you tell them you were pinching the back off me when you were arresting me,” she demanded.
She accused gardai of abusing her when she was arrested.
The judge told her not to address the court and to speak through her solicitor.
The garda’s application was made under section six of the Bail Act.
Changed circumstances
Defence solicitor John Quinn said that only related to court bail, not bail granted at a Garda station. His client had come back to Ireland had already answered bail twice; the issue raised by the garda was extraneous and could be dealt with through health regulations, he submitted.
However, Judge Kelly replied that she had the power under common law to change the conditions.
Circumstances had changed because the accused had left the country, she ruled.
Garda Keegan told the court a file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and directions are outstanding.
She said the charges related to a traffic pursuit: “Up to 20 garda patrol cars and a garda air support unit were involved”. A large amount of statements needed to be taken, Garda Keegan added.
Judge Kelly imposed the bail conditions and ordered Ms Greene to appear in court in four weeks to monitor them.
She told her the curfew would run from 11pm to 6am daily; she had until 9pm on Monday to surrender her passport to gardaí, and she must not apply for new travel documents.
Ms Greene has not yet indicated how she will plead.
Since her arrest, she has gained thousands of Instagram followers and has set up a pay-per-view “OnlyFans” account to boost her online profile. She has also given newspaper interviews.
Ms Greene has also built up her social media presence with photos from her one-week holiday to Spain following her arrest.
