DPP not to contest justice request by ex-nun

The Court of Criminal Appeal was told yesterday that the Director of Public Prosecutions is not contesting an application by a former nun, Ms Nora Wall, for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice arising from her quashed conviction on a charge of rape.

However, the court will still have to decide whether a certificate should be granted at a hearing to be held later this year. The application was adjourned to March 2nd for case management.

A certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice will entitle Ms Wall to pursue a claim for damages against the State.

When the case was mentioned yesterday, Mr Justice Geoghegan noted that an application and grounding affidavit had been filed on behalf of Ms Wall and that the matter had been adjourned to yesterday to allow the DPP to put in an affidavit.

Mr Noel Whelan, for the DPP, said that the DPP would not be opposing the application. It was still a matter for the court, he added. Mr John Rogers SC, for Ms Wall, said he would be seeking discovery of documents in relation to the application.

The application for a certificate declaring a miscarriage of justice arises following the decision of the DPP in November 1999 to accept "fully and ungrudgingly" that Ms Wall and Mr Paul McCabe were entitled to be presumed innocent of all charges brought against them.

The court was also told that the DPP very much regretted "the errors which occurred in relation to the handling of this case by the prosecution".

The court had quashed the convictions of both Ms Wall and Mr McCabe in July 1999 following a number of errors in their trial in June 1999.

At the close of that trial, both were convicted of the rape of a 12-year-old girl in St Michael's Child Care Centre in Waterford in 1990. Mr McCabe, a homeless man, was arrested in October 1996 and charged with the rape of the girl. Ms Wall, formerly Sister Dominic, was also charged. Both denied the charges. Ms Wall was sentenced to life imprisonment and Mr McCabe to 12 years.

A notice of appeal was immediately lodged, citing several grounds, including an interview which the alleged victim and her friend, a corroborative witness, had given to the Star newspaper, in which the alleged victim said that she had been raped in England.

Ms Wall and Mr McCabe were also released on bail. Mr McCabe has since died.