Gardai in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, were left scratching their heads when the Garda station became infested with fleas after three members returned from a woodland where they had interviewed a robbery victim.
Dungarvan District Court heard yesterday that by the time professional pest-controllers were brought in, Garda Anne Sweeney had received 72 flea bites.
Garda Sweeney sued the Minister for Justice and was yesterday awarded €2,500 in compensation - that's €34.72 per bite.
Judge Seán O'Leary said the Garda had failed in its statutory duty to provide the plaintiff with a safe place in which to work.
Garda Sweeney, a member of the force for 20 years, said she began station duties at 10 p.m. on Monday, May 18th, 1998, the night her three colleagues returned from their woodland assignment.
During the night, she noticed what she thought were three hives on her stomach. The following night she was driving a patrol car when she became aware of more spots, this time on her legs and arms. By Wednesday, when she was on filing duty, the bites were all over her body.
"On that particular day I heard of the difficulty in the station. Nobody had mentioned it before then," she said. Subsequently, while at home in bed, she could feel her feet and legs being pinched. "I pulled down the duvet and discovered I had fleas in the bed. I had about 60 bite marks at that stage."
A first communion ceremony she attended in Monaghan on the Saturday was ruined as a result, she told her counsel, Mr David Kennedy. The marks had been "itchy and swollen", she had been unable to wear shoes and had had to change into shorts after the ceremony. She had required medical treatment and, four years after the episode, still had a two-centimetre scar on her left foot, she said.
Garda Richard O'Sullivan, who was also on duty on the night his three colleagues visited the woodland, said they were "scratching and itching" on their return. It later became clear that fleas were the cause. "They were hopping around the place, hopping over the desks," he said.
Mr John Twomey, a retired garda, said he, too, had received bites. "I was picking fleas out of my hair and killing them."
Sgt John Molloy said the station was sprayed several times during the week, before Rentokil was brought in and successfully fumigated the station on the Saturday. Judge O'Leary said no blame was attached to Sgt Molloy, but initial efforts had not been enough.
