The High Court has ordered a District Court judge to hear and determine an application to re-enter a summons alleging dangerous driving in Westport, Mayo. The order does not decide whether the notice party committed the alleged offence.
The judgment concerns a charge that Michael Mc Cormack drove dangerously at Drummindoo, Westport, on 25 August 2005. The judgment says he allegedly attempted a U-turn on the Castlebar-to-Westport road and turned into the path of a motorcyclist, Mark Sheridan, who suffered very severe injuries in the collision. Those are allegations set out in the judgment, not findings on the charge.
A summons was issued in February 2006. After adjournments, the trial was set for 7 September, but no judge was available and the District Court list was adjourned to 11 September. The prosecution could not proceed that day because witnesses were unavailable. Sheridan had undergone rescheduled surgery on 8 September, and witness Lawrence Murphy could not return from England at short notice. The District Judge struck out the summons.
The summons was reissued on 11 November. When the prosecution applied to re-enter it on 7 December, the judge said it was not properly before her and indicated she intended to strike it out. The parties gave conflicting accounts of what was said and done at that hearing. The judge ultimately made no order on the application.
The High Court found that, on either account, the District Judge had not heard and determined whether the summons should be re-entered. It said it was not necessary to decide whether this followed from a mistaken view about the earlier proceedings or a pre-determined view. The court also rejected the notice party’s arguments that the prosecution had waived its complaint through its conduct at the hearing, or that it had to make a separate demand before seeking mandamus.
Mr Justice O’Neill granted an order of mandamus directing the District Judge to hear and determine the re-entry application. The High Court did not decide the merits of that application or the dangerous-driving charge.