Shortt seeks damages for prison ordeal

Co Donegal nightclub owner Frank Shortt was "destroyed" after being wrongfully convicted and jailed for three years on charges of allowing the sale of drugs at his Point Inn premises in Inishowen, the High Court heard yesterday.

Mr Shortt is believed to be seeking several million euro compensation for his ordeal.

Opening the claim for compensation by Mr Shortt against the Garda Commissioner and the State, Mr Eoin McGonigal SC said that insofar as there was "a plan by gardaí" to close or damage Mr Shortt's nightclub and those who ran it, that plan had succeeded by March 1995 when Mr Shortt was jailed.

Mr Shortt (69), a married father of five, with an address at Redcastle, Co Donegal, was a destroyed person, internally to himself and externally to the community, Mr McGonigal said. His family were referred to as the family of "that bastard Frank Shortt, the drug dealer", Mr McGonigal added.

Mr Shortt had served 27 months in prison, including some months in "inhuman" conditions in a 10 ft by 7 ft cell in Mountjoy Prison. Mr McGonigal said Mr Shortt had thought, here he was in jail on charges of allowing the sale of drugs on his premises and drugs were freely available in the prison. He had written to his local politicians, the Garda Commissioner and two ministers for justice and sought temporary release on 14 occasions but only secured it once.

When released in 1998, he was euphoric but quickly became depressed, counsel said. He was aged 62, had no income or business and realised the destruction that had happened to his life and family. But he still believed justice would right the wrongs done.

"This case is effectively, and unashamedly, about compensation. Mr Shortt is claiming damages," Mr McGonigal said.

Because of what Mr Shortt had endured before his conviction, during his imprisonment and afterwards, he was seeking compensation for breach of his constitutional rights, for the "deliberate and conscious abuse" of statutory powers and for loss and damage to his reputation, counsel outlined. He was also seeking damages for conspiracy, negligence, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment and was further seeking aggravated and exemplary damages.

Mr Shortt's claim for compensation arises from a Court of Criminal Appeal decision certifying that he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice. A hearing to assess the damages to be paid to Mr Shortt began yesterday before the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Finnegan.

Mr Shortt was in court yesterday accompanied by his wife, Sally, and other members of their family.

The case of Mr Shortt was one of the matters investigated by a Garda team headed by Asst Commissioner Kevin Carty. Mr Carty conducted a year-long inquiry into incidents dating back to the mid-1990s of alleged corrupt practices by gardaí in Co Donegal.

Mr Shortt said afterwards that he and his family "had suffered greatly at the hands of the establishment" and his nightclub had been burned to the ground.

Yesterday, outlining the facts, Mr McGonigal said Mr Shortt was convicted in 1995. His initial appeal against conviction was rejected but after his release in 1998 he pursued the matter and secured a fresh appeal. In November 2000 the DPP informed the Court of Criminal Appeal he was not opposing Mr Shortt's appeal. In July 2002 the court decided that Mr Shortt had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice. The court ruled the miscarriage was on the grounds of newly discovered facts - the deliberate suppression of material by two gardaí, Det Garda Noel McMahon and Supt Kevin Lennon.

Det McMahon was the chief prosecution witness at Mr Shortt's trial while Supt Lennon, then an inspector, headed the inquiry.

The hearing continues today.