The High Court dismissed a woman’s civil claim against Ireland, the Attorney General and the Garda Commissioner over an unlawful arrest that led to evidence being excluded from the rape trial in which she was the complainant. The court held that, absent mala fides, the Gardaí owed her no duty of care in conducting the criminal investigation and prosecution, and there was no basis for a separate claim for breach of constitutional rights.
The judgment, delivered by Kearns P. on 10 December 2010, concerned a prosecution of J.W. The accused was arrested on 22 July 1999 under a common law power of arrest for rape. By then, the Criminal Law Act 1997 had abolished the distinction between felonies and misdemeanours, and the court said the Garda member no longer had that common law power. Although a statutory arrest power was available, it was not used.
At the Central Criminal Court trial in May 2003, the trial judge ruled that J.W. had been held unlawfully and that evidence obtained during the illegal detention, including admissions, was inadmissible. The plaintiff said the prosecution case collapsed as a result. She issued her civil proceedings on 26 May 2006, claiming damages for alleged negligence and breach of duty, including failure to vindicate her constitutional right to bodily integrity.
The defendants asked the High Court to decide two preliminary issues: whether the claim was out of time and whether the Gardaí could be liable in damages for their investigative and prosecutorial functions without mala fides. The plaintiff argued that time began when she learned of the arrest error during the trial, on 28 May 2003. The defendants argued that it began with the arrest in 1999.
Kearns P. accepted the plaintiff’s position on limitation, holding that time could not begin to run on any cause of action until she became aware of the particular error behind her complaint. The court nevertheless dismissed the claim on the separate duty-of-care issue. It found there had been no mala fides and held that bona fide actions and decisions by the Gardaí in a criminal investigation or prosecution did not give rise to a negligence duty owed to the complainant. It also rejected creating a constitutional damages claim on those circumstances.
The ruling determined the preliminary issues and dismissed the plaintiff’s claim. It did not revisit the criminal trial’s ruling on the arrest or determine the underlying rape allegation.