A FORMER GP from Co Clare has secured a stay, to continue pending the outcome of High Court proceedings, on his retrial on 11 charges of defrauding terminally-ill patients.
Paschal Carmody secured leave from the High Court yesterday to bring judicial review proceedings aimed at halting his retrial, ordered by the Director of Public Prosecutions after a jury at Ennis Circuit Court failed to reach a verdict on 11 charges.
Mr Justice Michael Peart said the leave order acted as a stay on the retrial pending the determination of the full proceedings by the High Court.
Carmody claims the absence of a crucial witness breaches his constitutional right to a fair trial and also contends the delay in prosecuting him creates a real risk of an unfair trial.
Carmody (60), Ballycuggeran, Killaloe, was cleared by a jury last July after a five-week trial of 14 counts of false pretences and deception. The jury failed to reach verdicts on the remaining 11 charges. The DPP subsequently said he would proceed with a retrial on those outstanding charges.
The case was due for mention in Limerick Circuit Court next Monday when the State was due to apply to have the retrial heard in Dublin. The charges relate to money obtained from three terminally ill patients who received therapy at the East Clinic in Killaloe in 2001 and 2002.
Patrick Marrinan SC, for Carmody, said yesterday that the crucial witness needed for a fair trial was the late Mark Hadden, from Tinahely, Wicklow.
Mr Hadden had been diagnosed with cancer and in 1996 was treated with a photodynamic therapy offered to patients by Carmody, he said.
Mr Hadden underwent what was described as "a miraculous" recovery, later playing rugby for Leinster, marrying and having a child. He died 12 years later, a month before Carmody's trial started. Mr Marrinan said the delay in prosecuting him in relation to alleged offences in 2001 and 2002 had prejudiced him in his defence and there was a real risk of an unfair trial.
Last week, Carmody received a two-month prison sentence at Killaloe District Court after he was convicted of an assault on a "summons server" at his home in March 2007. He was freed on bail pending the outcome of an appeal.