The High Court has refused an application to prohibit a prosecution in Limerick, ruling that Gregory Conway had not established grounds to stop the case over the passage of time.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice John MacMenamin on 14 December 2007, concerned charges arising from the alleged killing of Denis Quinlivan at Palm Court, Limerick, on 3 December 1991. Conway was charged with manslaughter and several assault offences. The court was considering an application for judicial review seeking an order of prohibition; it did not determine the outstanding criminal charges.
Conway was charged in January 1992 and was due to appear in the Limerick Circuit Criminal Court that June. The judge said Conway’s explanation for failing to appear was that he had a drink problem and his life was chaotic. The judgment records that he later lived at times in England and Ireland and used both the surnames Conway and Schmading. The judge found that his conduct was consistent with avoiding detection and rejected his claim that his whereabouts were easily ascertainable.
The applicant argued that Gardaí could have executed the warrant earlier and that delay had harmed his ability to defend himself. The State accepted it could not now give a precise account of efforts to locate him. The judge noted the evidence showed few meaningful steps towards apprehension after Conway disappeared, but said the affidavits conflicted over the Garda efforts and the evidence did not establish that his location was readily available to them.
The court also found the claimed prejudice too general. The applicant had referred to deceased witnesses, diminished memory and possible exclusion of admissions and forensic evidence, but had not supplied enough factual or evidential detail to show specific harm to his defence. The judge said issues about the admissibility of statements and interview material could be considered by the trial judge in the criminal proceedings.
The judgment recounted allegations in the book of evidence, including that Conway joined an assault on Quinlivan and struck him with a stone, as well as accounts attributed to Conway and forensic evidence. The judge stressed that these were allegations that could be challenged at trial and did not decide whether they were true.
The application was refused first on discretionary grounds because Conway had failed to appear and had not made himself available to the Irish authorities. The judge also concluded that culpable prosecutorial delay had not been proved and that specific prejudice had not been demonstrated. He held that the public interest in prosecuting the serious charges outweighed the asserted prejudice. The order refused prohibition; the prosecution remained for trial.