Independent Newspapers has been fined €25,000 for contempt of court following the publication by the Evening Herald of a story and photographs relating to a serious assault on Grafton Street.
The publication occurred after charges had been laid in relation to the incident.
Mr Justice John Quirke in the High Court said yesterday that the newspaper had admitted breaching the sub judice rule by publishing the material after two men had been charged with criminal offences relating to the assault.
Breaches of the sub judice rule compromised the rights of all citizens to a fair and expeditious trial and of the community to have offences prosecuted, the judge said.
While he accepted the apology of Independent Newspapers and accepted that the breach was not done intentionally, he had to impose a sanction.
Independent Newspapers had a duty to ensure that its reporting was lawful, in this case it was not, and the appropriate sanction was a fine of €25,000.
The Director of Public Prosecutions brought the contempt proceedings after the Evening Herald on March 25th, 2004, published an article headlined "Tennis Ace Faces Assault Charge" and another article headlined "Savage Attack on Victim Captured by CCTV Camera."
Paul Anthony McDermott for the DPP said the Herald had also published three still photos taken from a CCTV camera showing the victim of an assault in the Grafton Street/Lemon Street area on April 13th, 2003.
Stephen Nugent and Dermot Cooper were charged with offences relating to the assault on March 24th, 2004, the day before the Herald articles were published.
Mr McDermott said the Evening Herald had obtained the CCTV still photos from a security man who had since been dismissed. He said the trial of the two men has since been dealt with and the DPP accepted that the newspaper had not intentionally breached the sub judice rule.
Shane Murphy SC for Independent Newspapers said his client wanted to apologise unreservedly to the court.