Courts / Dublin / Report

State retained data under "doomed" law, lawyers for detective who harassed solicitor say

Summary

Eve Doherty, a former detective sergeant, moved to appeal her conviction for harassing State solicitor Elizabeth Howlin. Doherty was found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of sending abusive letters and emails to Ms Howlin between September 2011 and March 2013. She was found not guilty on two counts of making false statements. In January 2018, Judge Melanie Greally sentenced Doherty to three years imprisonment, describing the communications as containing outright and "scurrilous" lies. Doherty, who maintains her innocence, argued that the conviction should be overturned because the State retained technical evidence, including a static IP address and data from a Canadian server, under the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011. Her counsel, Michael O'Higgins SC, contended that this Act was "doomed" and breached EU law, which had been struck down by European Courts. He submitted that the trial judge erred in failing to exclude this evidence, as well as other documents and an email regarding the Garda Commissioner, citing privacy breaches and lack of authorship proof. The appeal panel, led by President George Birmingham, heard that the 2011 Act was the law of the land at the time of the alleged offences. The matter was adjourned, with the DPP's counsel, Kerida Naidoo SC, scheduled to make submissions on Thursday next.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: State retained data under "doomed" law, lawyers for detective who harassed solicitor say. Procedural stage: appeal. Findings: Found guilty

When:

• September 2011 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 2013 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 2012 Hearing Or Sentence
• January 2018 Hearing Or Sentence
• 2012 and 2013 Other
• 2018-12-13 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Appeal

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Read the original CNI report