Court of Appeal overturns dismissal of Stephen Reddington’s charge

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

The Court of Appeal overturned the dismissal of a charge against Stephen Reddington on 5 December 2014, allowing his trial to proceed as if the charge had never been dismissed. Ryan P. delivered the ruling on the Director of Public Prosecutions’ appeal.

The accused had applied to dismiss the charge under section 4(e) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1967. The Circuit judge dismissed it after finding insufficient grounds for a search warrant issued on 21 November 2011 under section 26 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.

The trial judge noted that the garda had not stated reasonable grounds for his suspicion, that the District Court forms had not been complied with, and that visits by known drug users did not confirm a link to drugs being found on the premises. The prosecution conceded that if the judge’s conclusion about the warrant was correct, the case could not continue.

The appeal court held that the District Judge had to be satisfied, on information on oath, that reasonable grounds for suspicion existed. It found ample evidence: the garda had received information and conducted surveillance showing that drug users frequented the premises.

Ryan P. held that a conceivable innocent explanation did not answer the existence of suspicion. There was no suggestion that the premises were a drug clinic. He also held that the failure to account for the quality of the confidential information in the statements was not a ground of objection.

The court found a rational basis for issuing the warrant and quashed the dismissal. It expressly stressed, however, that issues concerning the warrant could still be raised at trial.