The High Court has ruled that a man sentenced to a suspended month in prison could still enter the bond required by the sentence after he returned to court the following day, having misunderstood that he needed to sign it.
Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger granted judicial review in a judgment delivered on 14 March 2024. The court declared that the applicant was entitled to enter the bond under section 99(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 and that the District Court was not functus officio—without jurisdiction to act—on the following day.
The applicant had pleaded not guilty to criminal damage and was convicted and sentenced by the District Court on 20 October 2021. The one-month prison term was suspended subject to a recognisance. The judge said the applicant needed to sign his bond. After the applicant left without signing, the judge said he was to be imprisoned if he did not sign. The judge refused a request to put the matter over until the next day, but allowed the solicitor to apply later that day. The applicant did not attend the evening court because his solicitor could not reach him until after it had ended.
The applicant returned the next day. The District Judge said he had no jurisdiction to deal with the previous day’s case. The applicant was purportedly taken into custody, but the Prison Service said it could not detain him because no committal warrant had been issued.
The respondents argued that the applicant knew he had to sign the bond, had deliberately frustrated the court order and that the judge had made a final committal order, even though it had not been drawn up. The applicant said no warrant had issued and the judge retained jurisdiction to let him enter the recognisance.
Justice Bolger found that the applicant had not understood that signing the bond was a condition of the suspended sentence and was not refusing to sign it. His evidence on those points had not been challenged. She said he returned at the first opportunity after his solicitor contacted him.
The judgment noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions had not applied to set a hearing to revoke the suspended sentence, and the prosecutor had not applied for a committal warrant. The judge said the bond condition set no deadline. In those circumstances, a reasonable time to comply was the following day, when the applicant returned, and the District Judge retained jurisdiction to deal with the matter.
The court did not make the remaining final orders at that hearing. As no warrant had issued, the judge said an injunction might not be necessary. She listed the case for mention on 12 April 2024 to hear submissions on the final orders.