The Supreme Court has sent two parts of Frank Ward’s challenge to his detention in Portlaoise Prison back to the High Court after finding that they had not been properly determined at his original Article 40 hearing.
Ward was awaiting trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on charges of robbery, causing serious harm and firearms possession. He had been in custody since October 2003. His detention was certified in the High Court as being based on a Circuit Court order dated 24 April 2006.
The High Court rejected two arguments. One concerned an allegedly defective committal warrant from October 2004. The court held that any defect had been overtaken by later lawful remand orders. The second concerned an alleged ambiguity in the October 2004 return for trial. The High Court found that this did not invalidate Ward’s detention under the later Circuit Court order.
Mrs Justice Denham, delivering the Supreme Court judgment, upheld both conclusions.
However, the appeal raised further issues which had not been fully heard below. Ward said he had not been given the certificate, schedule or warrant relied upon by the prison governor before or during the High Court hearing. The Supreme Court said that, if so, this would amount to a breach of fair procedures and required examination.
Ward also argued that his prolonged pre-trial detention breached his right to a hearing within a reasonable time under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He said he had been continuously detained since 6 October 2003 and that his trial was not expected before October 2006.
Because the High Court had not decided those issues, the Supreme Court declined to determine them for the first time on appeal. It remitted them to the President of the High Court for a full hearing, while leaving the existing detention order otherwise undisturbed.