The Supreme Court has refused to halt the prosecution of J. Harris (Assemblers) over alleged safety breaches connected with the 2003 sale of a crane lorry which had previously been involved in a fatal accident.
The company had sought an order prohibiting a prosecution pending before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. It argued that delays in bringing the charges, combined with the evidential burden placed on an accused under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989, meant it could no longer receive a fair trial.
The lorry had originally been sold by the company in January 2000. While owned by South Midland Construction Company Ltd, it was involved in a fatal accident in November 2002. The Health and Safety Authority and Gardaí subsequently inspected it.
The vehicle returned to J. Harris in August 2003 as part of a batch and was resold to SBC Utilities Ltd on September 4, 2003. The later charges alleged failures concerning the safety of the vehicle and information supplied with it.
Summonses were not issued until April 2007. The High Court found that most of the intervening period was accounted for by continuing investigation and requests for additional evidence, but identified about 14 months of inexcusable delay while the HSA file remained within its legal department.
The Supreme Court agreed that this delay amounted to a prima facie infringement of the company’s right to an expeditious trial. However, it found no evidence that witnesses or documents had become unavailable or that the company had otherwise suffered specific prejudice affecting its defence.
The court also rejected the argument that the statutory evidential burden, when combined with the delay, required prohibition of the trial.
A separate complaint concerned statements obtained from two employees without cautions. The Supreme Court held that questions about the admissibility of such evidence were matters for the criminal trial judge rather than grounds for stopping the prosecution in advance.
The appeal was dismissed and the High Court order refusing prohibition was affirmed.