The Supreme Court has upheld an order stopping the prosecution of Linda Eviston over a fatal road accident in County Cork after the Director of Public Prosecutions reversed an earlier decision not to prosecute her.
The accident occurred on 28 June 1998 and resulted in the death of Tony Moynihan. Eviston gave a statement to Gardaí and supplied engineering reports attributing the accident to the sudden deflation of a tyre on her vehicle.
In early December 1998, her solicitor was informed by local Gardaí that the DPP had decided not to prosecute. That decision was passed on to Eviston without any warning that it remained open to review.
Tony Moynihan's father wrote to the DPP on 16 December asking that the decision be reconsidered. He also said he had contacted the Minister for Justice. The DPP then reviewed the file. No new evidence had emerged. On 23 December, a summons issued charging Eviston with dangerous driving causing death.
Eviston obtained a High Court order restraining the prosecution. The DPP appealed.
Mrs Justice McGuinness accepted that the DPP generally has power to review a decision not to prosecute, even without new evidence. She also held that the High Court should not have granted relief on the separate basis that the DPP had failed to follow his own published review guidelines, because that ground had not been properly authorised in the judicial review proceedings.
However, the central issue was different. Eviston had been unequivocally told that she would not be prosecuted, with no caveat that the decision could be reversed.
In those particular circumstances, and having regard to the stress and anxiety she had experienced, the Supreme Court held that reversing the decision and initiating the prosecution breached her right to fair procedures.
The DPP's appeal was therefore dismissed, leaving the restraint on the prosecution in place.