The High Court has refused an application by X to prohibit a pending District Court trial on a charge relating to a notice requiring him to provide a DNA sample.
X was charged with failing or refusing, without reasonable cause, to comply with a notice issued under section 31(9) of the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014. The notice required him to attend a Garda station to have a DNA sample taken. He attended the District Court in April 2018 to answer the summons.
In the judicial review application, X argued that he did not fall within any category of people covered by the 2014 Act. The High Court said he was entitled to make that argument, but should raise it first in the District Court, which had jurisdiction to deal with the case.
The judgment said fair-trial rights would typically be addressed through the criminal trial and appeals process. To stop a trial by judicial review, an accused must establish a real risk of an unfair trial that could not be avoided through rulings or directions by the trial judge. The court said X had not come close to meeting that burden. He made the application the day before his District Court trial was due to commence, and the court said there was nothing to suggest he would not receive a fair trial.
The High Court also said it would be inappropriate to give a pre-trial view on the legal issues under the 2014 Act, effectively stepping into the District Court’s role. It noted that prohibition of a criminal trial is available only in exceptional circumstances and found none in this case.
The court declined to grant the reliefs sought. The judgment does not decide whether the 2014 Act applied to X; it leaves that issue to be raised first in the District Court.