The State has unreservedly apologised at the Supreme Court to Co Donegal man Frank Shortt for his wrongful conviction and imprisonment on trumped-up charges that he allowed the sale of drugs at his former nightclub in Inishowen.
Michael Cush SC, for the State, yesterday told the Supreme Court: "The State acknowledges that Mr Frank Shortt was the victim of a grave miscarriage of justice. For that and for all his suffering and loss as a consequence, the State apologises to him unreservedly."
The State's apology was issued at the end of the hearing before the Supreme Court in which Mr Shortt is arguing that the €1.93 million award of damages to him by the High Court last year is inadequate. The five-judge court has reserved its judgment.
The apology also came after Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman said on Tuesday, the first day of the hearing, that it was "extraordinary" that the State had not apologised to Mr Shortt.
Outside court afterwards, Mr Shortt said: "After so many years and even at this late stage I am delighted to receive an apology. I accept it in the spirit in which it was given."
Mr Shortt's lawyers have submitted that the €500,000 general damages award included in the total €1.93 million was "insufficient and inadequate". They also argued the €50,000 awarded for exemplary damages was "very inadequate". The State has contended the amounts awarded are adequate.
Last year the High Court awarded some €1.93 million damages and legal costs - estimated at hundreds of thousands of euro - to Mr Shortt. The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, said at the time that the case of Mr Shortt had involved an "outrageous abuse of power" by some gardaí.
Mr Justice Finnegan said Mr Shortt's suffering could fairly be said to have spanned a period of 12 years. Mr Shortt had entered prison at the age of 60, when it must be expected that the rigours of prison life would have a greater effect upon him than on a young man.
Mr Shortt, now aged 70, had sued the Garda Commissioner and the State. His lawyers had claimed Mr Shortt was "destroyed" as a result of being wrongfully convicted and jailed on charges of allowing the sale of drugs at his Point Inn premises, Quigley's Point.
Damages were awarded under a number of headings. They included €806,221 for losses related to the Point Inn and a caravan park which Mr Shortt had owned. A sum of €550,000 was awarded for loss of profits, net of tax, at the Point Inn. General damages of €500,000 under the Criminal Procedure Act (relating to the period spent in jail) were also included.
Mr Shortt, a married father of five, of Redcastle, Co Donegal, had served 27 months in prison. He was convicted initially in 1995. His first appeal against his conviction was rejected but after his release in 1998 he pursued the matter and secured a fresh appeal.
In July 2000, the Court of Criminal Appeal decided that Mr Shortt had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice. It ruled the miscarriage was on grounds of newly discovered facts - the deliberate suppression of material by two gardaí, Det Garda Noel McMahon and Supt Kevin Lennon.