Appeal court disagreed with direction to acquit accused man

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal disagreed with a Circuit Court judge’s direction that a jury return a not-guilty verdict in DPP v JD.

The accused argued that he had not been given an opportunity to state his account of events because he had not been arrested and detained for questioning by gardaí in relation to the indictable charge against him. The trial judge directed the verdict because fair procedures had not been observed.

The Court of Appeal disagreed, saying that the accused had no entitlement to be detained and questioned, or to put forward a version of events immune from challenge or interrogation.