The Court of Appeal has dismissed Ian Bissett’s appeal against his conviction for failing to notify gardaí of a change of address under the Sex Offenders Act 2001. It rejected his challenge to the admission of a Salvation Army hostel log and his claim that he had not been told of the possible penal consequences. His separate appeal against sentence was withdrawn.
Bissett was convicted by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 31 October 2014, after a three-day trial, of one offence under section 10(1) of the Act, as amended. The trial judge directed his acquittal on a second count. Bissett was sentenced on 25 November 2014 to two years in prison, concurrent with a sentence he was already serving. The Court of Appeal judgment addressed the conviction appeal only.
The case arose from Bissett’s release from prison in June 2011. The judgment says he had been informed of his obligations under the Act before release. In July, after his arrest, he gave gardaí the Salvation Army’s York House hostel in Dublin 2 as his address. The hostel manager later told a garda that Bissett had not returned for a nine-day period in August. The court said he had not notified gardaí of a change of address. During a later interview, Bissett said he had failed to comply because he was subject to a warrant and did not want gardaí to know where he was; he had moved to Limerick.
At trial, the prosecution used a hostel log recording when residents were absent. Bissett argued that it should not have been admitted as documentary evidence because the people who made entries were unidentified and the log had been compiled in contemplation of criminal proceedings or disciplinary procedures.
The Court of Appeal found the log was maintained for the hostel’s ordinary day-to-day management, including recording residents’ arrivals, departures and behaviour. Its potential relevance to a prosecution did not mean it had been created for that purpose. The court held that the log was admissible as a record compiled in the ordinary course of business, and dismissed that ground of appeal.
Bissett also argued that he had not been told that breaching the notification requirements could lead to imprisonment. The court considered trial transcript extracts concerning his statement to gardaí and concluded he knew that failing to notify them of an address change was an indictable offence carrying a penalty. It dismissed the second ground, stating the appeal against conviction therefore failed.