Two youths charged with murder found themselves briefly back in custody yesterday after a District Court judge said there was a defect in a High Court order granting them bail.
The pair, both 16, were arrested and charged last week with the murder of a health board clerical officer, Mr Brian Fitzpatrick (43), who was found beaten in Clune Road, Finglas, on November 28th.
Their lawyers applied to the High Court on the same day for bail, which was granted. They were freed and remanded to appear in the Children's Court yesterday when Judge James McDonnell put them back into custody over a defect in the wording of the High Court bail order.
He said the order stated that an application for bail had been made in the District Court and refused. This was incorrect as the District Court had no jurisdiction on bail matters in murder cases. This was a serious imputation against the District Court and he had pointed out this problem to the chief registrar on previous occasions.
While the youths were kept in custody, their lawyers went to the High Court and obtained new bail orders. When they appeared a short time later, Judge McDonnell said that as the order was now amended he was releasing the youths on continuing bail to November 16th for service of a book of evidence.