Christopher Redmond’s rape conviction quashed on appeal

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

The Court of Appeal quashed Christopher Redmond’s conviction for raping his granddaughter after reports were obtained about his fitness to stand trial. The proceedings were reported on 22 July 2019.

Redmond pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape and five counts of sexually assaulting his granddaughter at the Tolka Valley pitch and putt club in Finglas, where he worked. The offences were alleged to have occurred between January 2002 and May 2004. A Central Criminal Court jury found him guilty following a trial in early 2018. On 27 April 2018, Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment, reducing the headline sentence because of his progressive cognitive impairments.

An assessment before the trial found mild cognitive impairment but nothing to suggest Redmond was unfit to be tried at that time. After his conviction and before sentencing, a psychiatrist found significant cognitive impairment likely to have been present for years; that report did not address fitness to be tried. His barrister, Andrew Sexton SC, argued that the later report placed the safety of the conviction in doubt.

On 22 July 2019, DPP counsel Patrick McGrath SC told the appeal court that a further assessment had found a severe form of dementia with no prospect of recovery. He said the DPP would not oppose the appeal and indicated that there would be no application for a retrial. Mr Justice George Birmingham said the court would allow the appeal and make no further order. No referral was made to the Central Mental Hospital because the court had not itself made a determination.