A Co Tipperary man, who was given a maximum two-year jail sentence by a judge he claimed was biased against him, was set free by the High Court yesterday.
Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan heard that District Court Judge Mary Martin, who had handed down the maximum penalty, was yesterday in hospital.
She was alleged to have told Mark Walsh, Boherna, Cloughjordan, when he came before her last week for sentence: "You are the man who went to the High Court in Dublin and told a lot of lies about me."
Michael O'Higgins SC told the court Judge Martin had jailed Mr Walsh for contempt of court in February last when he had inadvertently taken a picture in court with his mobile phone camera.
The High Court had released him within days when a constitutional challenge, uncontested by the State, had been mounted by Mr Walsh's legal team.
Mr O'Higgins, who appeared with Mr Ronan Munro, said Mr Walsh had come before Judge Martin again on July 27th last.
Mr Walsh claimed she had made the remark about his having told lies about her in the High Court before she sentenced him to a maximum two years for three offences he had pleaded guilty to.
Judge O'Sullivan on Thursday directed that Mr Walsh be taken from Limerick Prison to the High Court in Dublin yesterday morning for the holding of an inquiry under Article 40 of the Constitution into Judge Martin's behaviour on July 27th.
Micheál O'Higgins, counsel for the governor of Limerick Prison, told the court it had been agreed that Mr Walsh could be released on his own bail of €300 with a signing-on condition.
Judge O'Sullivan said this determined and completed the constitutional inquiry and he granted Mr Walsh leave to challenge by way of judicial review the convictions and sentences imposed by Judge Martin on the grounds she had acted in excess of her jurisdiction and with bias.
The judicial review challenge was adjourned until October 9th in the new law term.