The Court of Appeal has ruled that DNA evidence may be used in the prosecution of John Maher for a burglary alleged to have taken place at Keeper Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12, in November 2010.
Blood recovered from the crime scene on 12 November 2010 was initially retained at Crumlin Garda Station. In April 2013 it was sent to the State forensic laboratory, where DNA was extracted and a profile generated.
At the time, forensic staff were creating profiles from crime-scene samples in advance of the statutory DNA database established under the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014. Those profiles were retained on what was described as an “intermediate database” and later transferred to the statutory database.
Maher was arrested over a separate matter in September 2016. A bodily sample was taken from him and sent for forensic examination. Its DNA profile matched the profile obtained from the blood recovered at the Drimnagh burglary scene, leading to the charge now before the District Court.
Maher's lawyers argued that the earlier intermediate database had no statutory basis and that the resulting DNA evidence should therefore be excluded. A District Court judge stated four legal questions for determination, and the High Court had concluded there was no legal authority for establishing the intermediate database.
The Court of Appeal disagreed. Mr Justice McCarthy held that the forensic laboratory did not require specific statutory authority to extract DNA, generate profiles or retain records of them. Maintaining the intermediate database was a lawful way of recording forensic work undertaken for a legitimate purpose.
The court also held that the 2014 Act required the statutory Crime Scene Index to include profiles generated from crime-scene samples recovered before the legislation commenced.
It answered all four questions in favour of the prosecution. The DNA profile was lawfully generated and retained, its transfer to the statutory database was lawful, and evidence of the match is admissible. The appeal was therefore allowed. The ruling does not determine whether Maher is guilty of the burglary charge.