The High Court has prohibited a District Court judge from hearing a prosecution against Dermot Sparrow over alleged offences connected with a foot-and-mouth disease form issued in Naas.
Sparrow was charged over events alleged to have occurred at Jigginstown, Naas, on April 9, 2001. The prosecution alleged that he unlawfully granted or issued a Foot and Mouth Disease five form and also offered the instrument, contrary to provisions of the Diseases of Animals legislation.
The summonses were served on April 8, 2003, one day before the expiry of the applicable two-year statutory time limit. The proceedings were then adjourned repeatedly. In July 2004, Judge Murrough Connellan indicated that the charges would be heard the following month.
Sparrow obtained leave from the High Court to seek judicial review and argued that the prosecution should be prohibited because of delay and perceived bias.
Mr Justice de Valera rejected the delay arguments. He held that the period of almost two years before service of the summons was within the statutory limit and concerned the prosecuting authority’s investigation and charging decisions. He also found that Sparrow had brought his challenge to that period outside the judicial review time limits.
The second period, about 14 months after the first court date, was also insufficient to justify prohibition. The judge found that much of that delay resulted from applications made on Sparrow’s behalf, while other adjournments were not opposed. No specific or implied prejudice to a fair trial had been shown.
The apparent-bias issue produced a different result. De Valera J found no evidence that Judge Connellan was actually biased. However, applying the test of whether a reasonable person could believe that a fair and independent hearing would not occur, he concluded that the judge’s previous statements and actions could create that perception.
The High Court therefore prohibited Judge Connellan from hearing the prosecution. The charges themselves were not dismissed and could be heard by another judge.