The Court of Appeal has again refused Bernard Daly bail while he awaits an appeal against convictions arising from a lengthy Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial.
Daly was convicted on 30 July 2015 of furnishing incorrect information contrary to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, conspiracy to commit an offence under the Companies Act 1990 and conspiracy to defraud. He first sought bail pending appeal in September.
That application was refused on 7 October, although the court said one issue — concerning the warning given to the jury about possible accomplice evidence — came closest to satisfying the demanding test for bail pending appeal. It allowed Daly to renew his application once the trial transcript became available.
The renewed application focused on evidence from Brian Gillespie, a bank compliance officer. Gillespie testified that Daly had asked whether he would remove an account from a list being prepared for Revenue if requested by a person in authority. Daly's lawyers argued that Gillespie himself might have participated in wrongdoing and that the jury therefore required a full accomplice warning.
At trial, the judge told jurors that if they regarded Gillespie or certain other witnesses as complicit, they should treat their evidence with caution because an accomplice might seek to shift blame. Daly argued that this fell short of the traditional warning that it may be dangerous to convict on uncorroborated accomplice evidence.
The Court of Appeal accepted that the point was significant. It noted that the judge had not given a classic accomplice warning and that several traditional elements were absent.
However, the court said important questions remained unresolved, including whether there was other evidence against Daly and whether any evidence could corroborate Gillespie. Those issues required consideration of the full trial record.
The court held that the argument was not flimsy, but had not yet met the exceptional threshold for bail pending appeal. With Daly's appeal listed for 11 January 2016, the renewed bail application was refused.