The High Court granted Ivor Sweetman’s application to prohibit his retrial, finding that the delay was excessive and unexplained and deprived him of his right to an expeditious trial.
In a judgment delivered on 20 December 2005, Mr Justice de Valera said the delays following Sweetman’s 1997 conviction amounted to 87 months across four periods. He said no satisfactory explanation had been offered for the delays. The court held that prejudice from excessive delay in a criminal trial could be presumed even without specific prejudice being shown.
Sweetman faced charges of murder, possession of a firearm and two counts of false imprisonment arising from events at Rosegreen, Cashel, in County Tipperary. The judgment’s opening says those events occurred on 6 February 1966, but its chronology and later discussion give 6 February 1996. The date is inconsistent in the source.
The judgment records that Sweetman was convicted of murder and firearms possession in May 1997. The Court of Criminal Appeal quashed those convictions in October 2000 and ordered a retrial. After several listings and adjournments, a retrial was scheduled for October 2004. Sweetman sought judicial review in July 2004, asking the High Court to stop it.
The judge considered the time taken to hear the appeal, arrange a retrial and set a new trial date. He acknowledged that some delay after December 2003 was attributable to Sweetman seeking the availability of witnesses he considered essential to his defence. He found that this relatively short period did not significantly affect the overall delay.
The court granted the order of prohibition sought. The judgment therefore stopped the proposed retrial; it does not describe a new trial or determine the underlying charges. The judge also noted that pressure on inadequate legal-system facilities had contributed to at least some delay, while saying court waiting times had improved.