A PUBLICAN charged with the murder of his wife and a baby girl was deemed not suitable to adopt the child by the Adoption Board, its chairwoman told the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
The board had found Mr Francis McCann did not comply with Section 13 of the Adoption Act, Ms Virginia Rochford said. She said the board reached its decision after a woman alleged Mr McCann had fathered a child with her daughter.
Information was given to the solicitor for Mr McCann and his wife, Esther, on July 28th, 1992, saying the board would not approve their adoption application for an 18 month old baby girl Jessica, she said.
The solicitor was informed that the board wanted him to tell Mr and Mrs McCann and the natural mother of Jessica about the difficulties with the application and to hear back from him within a month, Ms Rochford said.
She agreed the board did not formally dispose of the application until "long after" the deaths of Esther McCann and Jessica in a fire on September 4th, 1992.
She agreed that if the board had made a formal order rejecting the application earlier, the McCanns would have been entitled to seek judicial review of that decision.
Ms Rochford was testifying on the 37th day of the trial of Mr McCann (36), who has denied the murders of his wife, Esther (36), and Jessica at Butterfield Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin, on September 4th, 1992.
The jury has heard that Jessica was a blood relative of the accused but not a child of his marriage to Esther. The prosecution has claimed that Mr McCann arranged the fire because he did not want to tell his wife why the Adoption Board had refused their application to adopt Jessica.
In court yesterday, Ms Rochford told Mr Kenneth Mills SC, prosecuting, that the board had considered a request from the Garda on December 1st, 1992, to provide a statement on the deaths. She said the board decided she and the registrar would make statements on its behalf.
Cross examined by Mr Barry White SC, defending, the witness said there had been contacts between the board and gardai in September, 1992. She said she did not include that information in her statement because the Garda was already aware of it. She agreed the defence was not aware of those contacts but disagreed that her statement was selective.
She said she had convened an emergency meeting of the Adoption Board on September 6th, 1992, to discuss the deaths but denied she had decided that Mr McCann was "the guilty party".
The board had sought the opinion of a senior counsel for advice and authorised Mr Fergus Keenan to contact the Garda on its behalf to outline the facts of the case.
Ms Rochford said the board had received a telephone call from a woman on April 16th, 1991, alleging that Mr Francis McCann had had sexual relations with her daughter and, as a result, the girl became pregnant.
No application for adoption of Jessica had been received at that stage, she agreed. An application from Mr Francis McCann and Esther to adopt Jessica, who was then, living with them was received on May 20th, 1991.
She denied the board then held "a kangaroo bearing" on the matter which denied the accused man natural justice. The board had outlined in a memorandum of July 28th, 1992, it was not satisfied Mr McCann was of good moral character, she said. She agreed it refused on March 27th 1992, to hold a full hearing into the application.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Carney and a jury.