The Court of Appeal has ruled that a person who pleads guilty to an indictable offence and is sentenced in the District Court under section 13(2)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1967 cannot change that plea to not guilty on appeal. The appeal is confined to sentence.
The ruling came in a consultative case stated from the Circuit Court. The judge asked whether he had jurisdiction to allow a person who pleaded guilty under section 13(2) to change his plea and have the matter heard afresh. The Court of Appeal answered no.
The case arose from a road traffic incident on Portland Street North on 6 April 2018. According to the facts set out in the case stated, a motorcyclist was injured after striking a rope attached to a waste vehicle that was being used to drag bins from an apartment complex to street level. He suffered spinal fractures, and a full recovery was expected to take 12 to 18 months.
The respondent was charged with dangerous driving causing serious harm. The Director of Public Prosecutions consented to the District Court dealing with the indictable offence summarily if he pleaded guilty. He pleaded guilty on 31 July 2019, was convicted, fined €300 and disqualified from driving for the mandatory two years. He then lodged an appeal and told the prosecutor he intended to change his plea to not guilty.
The respondent argued that the general right to appeal from the District Court allowed a fresh hearing, relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Attorney General (Lambe) v Fitzgerald. The DPP and the Attorney General, appearing as amicus curiae, argued that the special procedure for a guilty plea under section 13(2)(a) did not permit a contested hearing on appeal.
In its judgment, delivered by Ms Justice Ní Raifeartaigh, the court distinguished Lambe, which did not concern a plea entered under section 13(2). It said that the statutory scheme allowed an accused who pleaded guilty under section 13(2)(a) to benefit from the District Court’s lower sentencing limits, with the prosecutor’s consent. The judgment also pointed to section 13(4), which expressly permits a change of plea for a person sent forward to the Circuit Court on a signed guilty plea under section 13(2)(b), but contains no equivalent provision for someone dealt with in the District Court under section 13(2)(a).
The court concluded that the appeal in this case was limited to sentence and answered the case stated in the negative. It did not conduct a new hearing on the underlying charge.