The High Court has refused a woman’s application for judicial review of a District Court decision refusing her a legal aid certificate in a drunk-driving case. The District Court had already dismissed the charge when the legal aid application was considered.
In a judgment delivered on 1 March 2019, Mr Justice Meenan said the District Judge had appropriately examined the applicant’s means and had regard to the gravity of the offence. The judicial review court was not hearing an appeal and could not substitute its own decision for the District Judge’s.
The applicant had appeared in the District Court on 7 December 2017, charged under the Road Traffic Act 2010. The matter had been adjourned while a legal issue awaited a Supreme Court decision. At the hearing, the District Judge dismissed the charge and then considered the legal aid application.
The transcript records the District Judge saying the applicant had no previous convictions and would not face imprisonment for a first offence in that court. The judge also referred to the applicant owning a car and receiving social welfare, including rent allowance, and concluded that means were not an issue. The High Court found that this inquiry was neither irrational nor unreasonable.
Mr Justice Meenan noted that the offence carried a risk of imprisonment, but said that risk alone did not establish that the charge was sufficiently grave to require legal aid. He rejected the applicant’s argument that the District Judge had unlawfully fettered her discretion by stating how she would approach sentencing. The High Court said an indication of how discretion would be exercised was not, in itself, a fetter.
The applicant had relied on a Supreme Court ruling concerning a different legal aid refusal. The High Court distinguished that case, noting that the District Judge who refused legal aid there was not the judge who would hear the charge. Here, the charge had already been dismissed and was not proceeding.
The court refused the reliefs sought, which included an order to quash the legal aid decision and a declaration that the District Judge had failed to apply the relevant statutory provisions. The High Court did not reinstate or determine the dismissed charge.