Court halts man’s trial on 31 charges of indecent assault

The Court of Appeal (CoA) has halted an elderly man’s trial on 31 charges of indecent assault due to delay in prosecuting him.

The man, who cannot be named, was facing trial for offences allegedly committed on 11 individuals between January 1968 and December 1992.

He was previously tried on three separate occasions in relation to similar offences of indecent assault relating to different complainants. He was acquitted on one occasion and convicted on two occasions.

The latest prosecution, which the three judge court halted on Monday, arose out of complaints made against him in April 2012 and February 2014.

He sought a High Court judicial review, claiming he could not receive a fair trial because of delays of five and seven years between when the complaints were made and when he was charged in May 2019.

It was also argued he was in poor health physically and mentally and had difficulty giving instructions to his lawyer.

The High Court rejected the challenge.

His grounds of appeal included that the High Court judge erred in failing to follow a 2006 High Court decision which, it was argued, was binding on her.

The DPP opposed the appeal.

Giving the Court of Appeal judgment, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy did not believe any of the factors identified by the man, taken alone, would bring the case into the kind of exceptional category so as to render a trial unjust or unfair.

It is quite clear old cases may be prosecuted, she said.

It was also clear, and the judge’s firm view, age is no restriction and nor is ill health, either mental or physical.

The court had to consider, not only the individual factors, but the cumulative impact of them in this case, she said.

She did not find any single period of delay would, in and of itself, require the trial to be prohibited.

When she looked at the entire period, together with the other factors, the “inexorable conclusion” was that this was one of those rare cases where the cumulative factors were such to bring this matter into the “wholly exceptional category” where it would be unjust to put the appellant on trial.

She set aside the High Court decision and granted the man an injunction restraining the DPP further prosecuting him on the charges before the Circuit Criminal Court.