The Court of Appeal has dismissed Ruth Barry’s appeal against convictions arising from a violent incident on O’Connell Street in Dublin in the early hours of 25 June 2010.
Barry had been convicted after a seven-day trial in June 2012 of offences including a section 4 assault on Jennifer Bray, whose face was cut with a knife, assault causing harm to Neil Callanan, robbery of Bray’s mobile phone and cash, and producing a knife. She had also pleaded guilty to separate assaults on Bray and Sarah Furlong arising from the same incident.
The confrontation began after an argument in a McDonald’s queue. Bray, Furlong and Callanan left the restaurant and were followed outside by Barry and her co-accused, Jonathan O’Brien. Evidence at trial described Barry assaulting Bray and Furlong before Bray suffered the serious facial injury.
Barry’s appeal centred on the absence of witness Jacob Gajda. His statement described O’Brien handling an unidentified object, potentially placing him in possession of a blade. Despite being served with a witness order, Gajda repeatedly refused to attend court.
The Court of Appeal was critical of the prosecution. It said reasonable steps should have been taken earlier to secure Gajda’s attendance and the defence should have been told sooner about the difficulty.
However, the court found that the missing evidence did not undermine the prosecution case. Neil Callanan’s evidence placed O’Brien away from Bray when she fell, while Sarah Furlong attributed her own assault solely to Barry and suffered a deep cutting injury consistent with a blade.
The court also stressed that the prosecution case had always been based on joint enterprise, meaning each participant could be responsible for acts carried out in furtherance of their common plan.
It concluded that Gajda’s absence did not render the verdict unsafe or unsatisfactory. Barry’s separate-trial argument was also rejected and the appeal was dismissed.