Special Criminal Court wrong to find man was miscarriage of justice victim, DPP says

On Thursday, the DPP’s senior counsel, Brendan Grehan, told the High Court there was a “fundamental error” in how the Special Criminal Court approached its decision to grant a miscarriage of justice certificate.

The Special Criminal Court acquitted Mr Connolly after finding it could not rely on the “belief evidence” of the Garda assistant commissioner as being independent from the investigation. It, unlike other courts, can accept the belief evidence of high-ranking gardaí if it is based on material that is independent to other evidence before it.

The Special Criminal Court said Mr O’Sullivan made a “careless” assertion during the trial that none of the material forming his belief was in the book of evidence. The assertion was “seriously incomplete and misleading”, the court said. Asked by Mr Justice Garrett Simons if the DPP was attempting to “gainsay” the acquittal, Mr Grehan said she was not.

The court refused during his initial trial, accepting an “incorrectly made” plea of privilege over the records, said Mr Hartnett. During the retrial, the court found material in the file that was “clearly germane” to the case and that was “contradictory” to the assistant commissioner’s evidence, he added.

Mr Hartnett said the DPP has failed to show the miscarriage of justice declaration was made in error or was unreasonable or irrational.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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