THE DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions will decide in the next two months whether to bring a fresh prosecution against former Clare GP Paschal Carmody following yesterday's split decision by the jury in his trial.
The jury at Ennis District Court failed to agree on 11 of the 25 charges Mr Carmody faced of obtaining money from terminally ill cancer patients and their families by deception. As a result, these charges will come again before the court for mention on September 29th. The decision came as a disappointment to Mr Carmody and the relatives of former patients who had testified against him.
The eight men and three women on the jury found Mr Carmody (60) not guilty of six of the charges. They also returned eight further not guilty verdicts, having been directed to do so earlier in the trial by Judge Rory McCabe.
It took the jury almost six hours, over two days, to reach their verdict. From lunchtime yesterday, it had become apparent that the jury was having difficulty reaching agreement. But it still wasn't clear which side of the argument they were tending to favour. Judge McCabe invited them to return a majority verdict if unanimity failed them.
Shortly after 5.20pm they reached the natural end of their deliberations and returned to the courtroom. Mr Carmody remained impassive, his hands resting on his lap, as the court registrar read out their decision on the 25 charges. His wife Frieda and son Michael, seated beside and behind him, likewise displayed no emotion. Behind them, supportive former patients slapped each other on the back and one clapped briefly as the judge left the courtroom.
Across the courtroom, the relatives of former patients who gave evidence against the former GP during the 17-day trial buried their heads in their hands. Bernadette Gallagher, who had given evidence that Mr Carmody had promised to cure her late husband JJ's cancer, sobbed, while her two sons closed their eyes in disbelief. Mr Carmody denied promising to cure any patient's cancer.
As their respective legal teams took both parties aside to explain the implications of the jury's decision, departing gardaí made no attempt to disguise their disappointment with the outcome of their four-year investigation. Det Garda Philip Ryan of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said the matter was now in the hands of the DPP, who would have to decide whether or not to bring a fresh case against Mr Carmody on the 11 undecided charges.
A still visibly upset Ms Gallagher and relatives of John Sheridan and teenager Conor O'Sullivan, both of whose terminal cancers were treated by Mr Carmody and who later died, declined to speak to waiting reporters as they left the courtroom, saying the case was still before the courts.
Mr Carmody also declined to comment but Flan Garvey, a former mayor of Clare who had given evidence in support of him, said the former GP had described the result as "a victory for no one".