Courts / Louth / Report
Church funded legal costs of retired priest's appeal
Summary
The Catholic Church paid for the legal representation of retired priest Tadhg O'Dalaigh, who successfully appealed a conviction for indecently assaulting a schoolboy in the 1970s. O'Dalaigh, aged 73, had been found guilty by a jury and sentenced to five years' imprisonment, with the final two years suspended by Judge Donagh McDonagh on 18 December 2014. He had already served the full term when the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction on Monday, citing the trial judge's failure to warn the jury about the dangers of convicting without corroboration. The Court also refused the Director of Public Prosecutions' application for a retrial, deciding it would not be in the interests of justice to order one for someone who had served the sentence. Counsel for O'Dalaigh, Patrick Gageby SC, applied for legal costs for the appeal, arguing that the source of the funding was irrelevant.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Church funded legal costs of retired priest's appeal. Procedural stage: appeal
When:
- December 18, 2014 Incident
- 2017-05-26 Publication
Case subjects
Applicant
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: The three-judge court felt it would not be in the interests of justice to order the retrial of someone who had served their sentence in full.; The Court of Appeal reserved judgment on the question of costs to Thursday next.
Places mentioned
- Mount Merrion Avenue
- Blackrock
- Court of Appeal
- Cork
- Cork Circuit Criminal Court
Topics
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