Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has confirmed he believes a manslaughter charge preferred against a 25-year-old man over the death of 14-year-old Clonmel boy Brian Rossiter was done without the authorisation of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr McDowell told The Irish Times he believed the charge of manslaughter preferred against Noel Hannigan, Cooleens Close, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, over the death of Brian Rossiter was not done on the directions of the DPP, James Hamilton.
Brian Rossiter died on September 13th, 2002, after being found unconscious in a cell at Clonmel Garda station on the morning of September 11th, following his arrest by gardaí the previous night on suspicion of committing a public order offence.
Eight months after Brian's death, Mr Hannigan was charged at Clonmel District Court with a Section 3 assault (that is, assault causing harm) to Brian Rossiter, following an earlier incident on September 8th, 2002, at Cashel Street in Clonmel.
However, in March 2004, a Section 4 assault (that is, assault causing serious harm) and a manslaughter charge were preferred against Mr Hannigan only for these to be withdrawn by the State last month without any explanation given in court.
Asked if he was concerned the DPP would direct that a manslaughter charge be preferred against a man and then allowed stand against him for a number of months, Mr McDowell said that such a question assumed the DPP did sanction the manslaughter charge. "I don't believe that he did - I think it was laid in error," said Mr McDowell.
When asked who he believed laid the charge in error, he declined to comment further and said such a question should be directed to the DPP's office.
"I think that it was laid in error - that's my view - that's a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions. He is fully independent under the Constitution for the prosecutions of offences and I don't tell him to how to do his business, and he doesn't tell me how to do mine.
"I don't want to comment on the circumstances in which that charge was preferred, except to say that it is my understanding, since you put the matter to me, that it was not done on the instructions of the Director of Public Prosecutions."
The Irish Times contacted the DPP's office to put Mr McDowell's assertion to them regarding the manslaughter charge being preferred against Mr Hannigan without the DPP's authorisation, but a spokesperson said the DPP didn't comment on individual cases.
However, legal sources contacted by The Irish Times expressed surprise that the Minister for Justice would assert that a manslaughter charge could be preferred against a person without it being authorised by the DPP.
"It's an extraordinary situation that somebody could be charged with a Section 4 assault and a manslaughter charge - two of the most serious charges on the statute short of murder - and that it could be done without the authorisation of the DPP," said the source.