The Court of Appeal has ordered that Jean Nevin be sentenced in Portlaoise Circuit Court on the basis of factual findings already made after an earlier hearing into the circumstances of an assault.
Nevin had pleaded guilty to assaulting Christy Nevin causing harm in an incident on 25 June 2017. She later also pleaded guilty to producing a knife in a manner likely to intimidate another person.
Because the prosecution and defence disputed how the assault occurred, Judge Keenan Johnson held a Newton hearing in October 2023. A Newton hearing allows a sentencing judge to hear evidence and decide disputed facts that may affect sentence after an accused has pleaded guilty.
After hearing Jean Nevin and the injured party, the judge found that the prosecution had not proved the attack was unprovoked. He accepted that there had been a degree of self-defence, although it was excessive.
When the case returned for sentence in January 2024, a solicitor acting for the injured party complained that another witness, Patrick Nevin, had not been called. It then emerged that Patrick Nevin had made a statement during the investigation, but that statement had not previously been disclosed to Jean Nevin’s legal team.
Judge Johnson subsequently vacated the first Newton hearing and recused himself, directing that another Circuit Court judge conduct a fresh hearing.
Jean Nevin challenged that decision. The High Court refused relief, but the Court of Appeal has now allowed her appeal.
Mr Justice Anthony M. Collins held that the first Newton hearing was a lawful, completed determination of disputed facts. Once the judge had made those findings, reopening the dispute to allow different evidence would effectively give the prosecution an appeal against a factual ruling it had lost.
The court also held that the injured party’s solicitor had no general right of audience in the criminal proceedings and that acting on those representations created an irregularity.
The January 2024 order was quashed and the case was remitted to Judge Johnson to sentence Nevin in accordance with the original findings.