Ms Justice Kennedy delivered a judgment in the Court of Appeal on the 19 December 2024 which dismissed an appeal against convictions on several counts of sexual assault and rape.
The incidents were alleged to have taken place while the Respondent was employed by the Appellant over several years. Approximately 20 years after the alleged offending took place, the Respondent reported the allegations to An Garda Síochána and the Appellant was charged. A jury was selected on five separate occasions, the first three were discharged, the fourth disagreed and the fifth convicted the Appellant. There were three grounds of appeal filed by the Appellant.
The third and final ground for appeal was that subjecting the Appellant to a fifth trial on the same charges disregarded his right to a fair hearing and was thus an abuse of process. He claimed that the impact of multiple trials was oppressive and placed unreasonable strain on him. The Respondent countered that only two of the trials had been deliberated by the jury, as the other three had been stopped early at the Appellant’s request. It was noted by the Court that there had been no application made to stop the fifth trial before it commenced. This ground of appeal was rejected as the Appellant had failed to prove that an injustice had arisen.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
Click here to read the judgment.