The High Court has refused an application by J.M. to stop the prosecution of two sexual assault charges before Monaghan District Court. The charges concern alleged assaults on L.B. on different dates between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1997, at Tullyard, County Monaghan. The judgment does not determine whether the alleged offences occurred.
The summonses were served on 21 June 2006. The Director of Public Prosecutions had earlier decided not to prosecute, and Garda Yvonne Martin told J.M. of that decision on 23 April 2006. The DPP later reversed the decision and directed prosecution. The judgment records that the court was considering whether the prosecution should be restrained because J.M. had not been warned that the earlier decision could be reviewed.
J.M. sought an injunction against the continued prosecution and declarations concerning fair procedures and the initiation and disposal of criminal proceedings. The court addressed the substantive challenge to the DPP’s reversal. Other issues arising from how the District Court proceedings had been handled were left outstanding for counsel to address.
The judge held that the DPP could review a decision not to prosecute, including in the absence of new evidence. He concluded that, following the Supreme Court’s decision in Eviston and later judgments, the possibility of review was part of the law and J.M. was deemed to know it. The DPP’s published review guidance, by itself, did not establish that J.M. knew of the procedure.
The judgment also considered evidence that J.M. had admitted misconduct to Gardaí and to members of his family. He had not challenged those admissions in the judicial review proceedings. The judge found no breach of fair procedures. He added that even if there had been a breach, the admissions would lead him to refuse the requested relief.
The court refused the relief sought on the substantive issue. The judgment did not end the District Court prosecution or decide the outstanding issues in the judicial review proceedings.