The High Court has dismissed Gareth Phelan’s judicial review challenge to a Circuit Court decision striking out his appeal against a District Court conviction and sentence. The appeal was struck out after he failed to attend on two listed dates. The High Court did not hear the merits of his appeal or alter the District Court order.
Phelan had pleaded guilty to several offences at Cloverhill District Court on 16 April 2012. He received six months’ imprisonment for driving without insurance and giving a false name, a six-year driving disqualification, and a €500 fine payable immediately, with 30 days’ imprisonment in default. A nine-month sentence for the remaining charges was suspended for two years.
He lodged an appeal on 26 April and entered a recognisance containing an address and a condition that he attend court on a date to be set. On 28 May, the Courts Service sent notice of the appeal date, 13 June, by prepaid post to Cloverhill Prison and the address on the recognisance. Phelan said he continued to live at that address after his release but did not receive the letter.
When he failed to appear on 13 June, the Circuit Judge adjourned the appeal to 26 June to give him another opportunity to attend. The court heard that his solicitors had tried repeatedly to reach him by telephone and had left a message with his brother. Phelan said his phone was off and he did not learn of the message until after the adjourned date. A Garda told the court that Phelan had not been seen in the Tallaght area since August 2011 and that a warrant had issued in May in a separate case after he failed to appear.
Justice McDermott said the evidence did not satisfy him that Phelan lived at the address on the recognisance during the relevant period. He found his explanation for being out of contact “entirely inadequate and contrived” and concluded the Circuit Judge had made every effort to give him a chance to pursue the appeal. The High Court was also satisfied that striking out the appeal was within the Circuit Judge’s jurisdiction.
The judge distinguished the case from one involving sentencing an absent accused: here, the Circuit Court did not hear the appeal or consider its merits, and no order varied the District Court decision. The judicial review application was dismissed.