The High Court refused Steven Penrose leave to bring two judicial review applications concerning his allegations of assault by two gardaí, finding the claims misconceived as judicial review and lodged outside the applicable time limit.
In a judgment delivered on 13 March 2023, Mr Justice David Holland said Penrose’s papers sought damages for an alleged assault on 15 May 2017. The judge said a claim for assault damages should be brought by plenary proceedings, not judicial review.
The first application, 2023/4 JRP, included a statement of grounds dated 1 October 2022. The papers were received by the High Court Central Office on 6 March 2023, although they bore other stamps. Penrose alleged that the two gardaí assaulted him and caused injuries. He also alleged they made false statements about the incident. He said he had been acquitted of unspecified charges at a 2018 Circuit Court trial and claimed the jury had rejected the gardaí’s account. These were allegations set out in his papers; the judgment did not determine whether they were true.
The judge said the application was outside the three-month limit under Order 84, rule 21(1) of the Rules of the Superior Courts. Penrose had not applied to extend the period, and his papers did not address the criteria for an extension. The court refused leave on both the procedural route and time-limit grounds. It also concluded that, on the assertions before it, Penrose had not established that judicial review was the only effective remedy or the more appropriate procedure than a plenary action.
The second application, 2023/5 JRP, repeated the assault and damages claim in shorter form. It was also refused on the same basis. That application named “GNDOCB” as a respondent. The judge said the papers appeared to use the term for the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Unit, but he was not aware of a body of that name having legal personality. He made no particular order about it because leave was being refused in any event.
The judge directed that a copy of the public judgment be sent to the two gardaí, Oliver Hackett and Ronan Cowley, through the Garda Commissioner, so they would be made aware of the allegations. The order refused leave to seek judicial review; it did not decide the underlying assault allegations or award damages.