The Court of Appeal has granted bail to a man charged with murdering Ann Nancy Smyth at her home in Kilkenny city in 1987, subject to a €7,500 cash surety and strict conditions aimed at addressing prosecution concerns about witness interference.
In a judgment delivered on 29 July 2016, the court allowed John Joseph Malone’s appeal against the High Court’s refusal of bail. His trial in the Central Criminal Court was scheduled for March 2017.
The appeal was confined to the High Court’s March 2016 decision and the new evidence heard then: testimony from Malone’s brother, who proposed as a surety. The Court of Appeal said issues decided on evidence at an earlier bail hearing in November 2015 were not being reopened. Malone accepted that the appeal would proceed on that basis, including the earlier judge’s finding concerning a 2010 incident described by a prosecution witness.
The High Court had refused bail, citing concerns about possible interference with witnesses. The earlier evidence included testimony from Jude Curran, who said Malone had come to his home in 2010, handled a large knife and warned that Curran could have him arrested over what he had said about the killing. Curran described the behaviour as threatening. He also said Malone’s brother had shown him witness statements and warned that gardaí would not always be around to protect him. The judgment records that Malone denied involvement in his brother’s encounter and that there was no evidence he had been involved in it.
The appeal court said it granted bail with regard to Malone’s presumption of innocence, the absence of evidence of actual or attempted intimidation of Curran or other prosecution witnesses by Malone since 2010, and the trial date in 2017.
The conditions require one or two independent sureties to lodge €7,500 in total. Malone must live at his mother’s address in Kilkenny and cannot travel outside the county without notifying and obtaining permission from gardaí. He is barred from entering the part of Kilkenny city north of the River Nore, except to report to Kilkenny Garda Station and travel directly back home. He must report there daily between 11am and 4pm, keep a mobile phone available for garda contact, and have no direct or indirect contact with Curran or other prosecution witnesses. He must also stay within the jurisdiction and surrender his passport.
The judgment concerns bail pending trial; it does not determine the murder charge.