The High Court has stayed the prosecution of a man charged with 18 counts of indecent assault, unless the complainant discloses information about several earlier alleged sexual assaults. The court gave four months from 11 April 2022 for disclosure to the applicant’s solicitor; if the information is not disclosed, the stay will become permanent.
Mr Justice Charles Meenan delivered the judgment on 11 April 2022 in judicial review proceedings brought by W.C. against the Director of Public Prosecutions. The criminal charges are before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and relate to alleged offences between 1 February 1975 and 30 June 1984. The complainant, identified as C.R., is W.C.’s first cousin. W.C. denies the charges and has no previous convictions, the judgment says.
The disclosure request followed unredacted statements in which the complainant referred to other alleged assaults. These included an attempted assault by two young people in a laneway near her home, an alleged rape at a house party in England, and alleged assaults by an unnamed uncle, a neighbour and two family members. The complainant said she did not wish to name those people, provide details or have the incidents investigated.
The defence argued that the missing information undermined its ability to prepare and cross-examine the complainant. The DPP submitted that the issue should be left to the trial judge and pointed to evidence that the applicant allegedly admitted to the complainant’s stepmother that he had fondled her. The judgment records that the applicant denies the charges; it does not determine the truth of the alleged admission or the earlier allegations.
Justice Meenan relied on the Court of Appeal’s decision in *Vattekaden v DPP*, which addressed the effect of unnamed prior allegations on an accused person’s ability to cross-examine. He concluded that the disclosure issue had to be dealt with in the judicial review proceedings. However, he declined to prohibit the trial immediately, saying a final order at that stage would be premature.
The order requires disclosure of names and addresses relating to the alleged laneway incident, information about the alleged rape in England, and materials concerning the investigation and prosecution of allegations involving the unnamed uncle, neighbour and two family members. The judgment does not find that those other allegations occurred or that the applicant committed the charged offences. The court listed the case for 3 May 2022 to address costs and any other issues.