The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed George Redmond’s convictions on two corruption charges after newly produced bank records showed that a key prosecution witness had not withdrawn the £10,000 he said he used to pay a bribe. The court declined to order a retrial, noting that Redmond had served virtually all of his 12-month sentence.
Redmond was convicted by a 10–2 jury majority at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 19 November 2003 and sentenced the following month. The charges concerned an alleged cash payment from car dealer and garage owner Brendan Fassnidge in connection with his purchase of a right of way from Dublin County Council. Redmond, then an Assistant City and County Manager with responsibility for planning matters, had applied for leave to appeal after that application was refused.
The appeal court first allowed Redmond to introduce new evidence and amend his grounds of appeal. At the hearing on 9 July 2004, Bank of Ireland manager Padraic Brennan produced records for Fassnidge’s accounts. The records contained no £10,000 cash withdrawal during March or April 1988; the only cash withdrawals recorded were minor amounts made through ATMs. The evidence was unchallenged.
At trial, Fassnidge had repeatedly testified that he withdrew £10,000 at the bank’s Blanchardstown branch, put it in a brown envelope and handed it to Redmond at his home. His wife did not give evidence. The prosecution had previously said no relevant bank records existed, and the defence had been told records could not be obtained because banks were not obliged to retain them beyond six years. A branch manager who testified at trial had referred to seeing a file but could not provide details.
The Director of Public Prosecutions argued that the new records added to evidence already before the jury that did not corroborate Fassnidge’s account. The prosecution also pointed to other trial evidence, including Redmond’s 1999 statement that he had received £5,000 from Fassnidge as an unsolicited payment, and evidence about the right-of-way transaction.
The appeal court said the records conclusively disproved Fassnidge’s account of the withdrawal. Because proof of the specific charges depended on his evidence, the court found the new material would have cast grave doubt on his testimony as a whole. It concluded there was at least a strong possibility the records would have raised reasonable doubt for the jury, making the convictions unsafe and unsatisfactory.
The court quashed both convictions. It considered a retrial would be wrong because Redmond had served virtually the whole of his sentence, and did not order one. The judgment, delivered on 28 July 2004, addressed the appeal on the newly discovered bank evidence; the source does not report a decision on the other appeal grounds.