The Supreme Court has set aside a High Court decision refusing bail to a man charged with assault causing harm and remitted his application for a fresh decision in accordance with law.
The appeal concerned a refusal of bail made on 25 May 2009. The Supreme Court said the High Court judge had asked the wrong question: his reasoning focused on whether Gardaí might have genuine fears for witnesses, rather than whether the court itself was satisfied that a valid objection to bail had been established as a probability.
The man was charged with assault causing harm under section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997, arising from an alleged assault in a Naas public house on 26 October 2008. The prosecution had objected to bail on the grounds that he might not attend trial and that witnesses could be interfered with. The first ground was not seriously pressed. The evidence about alleged threats and witness interference related to the earlier trial of another person charged over the same incident. The Supreme Court recorded that no intimidation or attempted intimidation had occurred since that trial, and that there was no evidence connecting the applicant personally to the alleged threats.
The High Court heard Garda evidence about complaints of threats and intimidation. Those accounts were hearsay, and the alleged authors of the statements were not called to give evidence. The Supreme Court discussed the limits on hearsay in bail applications, stressing that the ordinary rule is evidence given by its author and tested by cross-examination. Hearsay may be admitted only exceptionally, where a recognised ground is established and reasonable steps have been taken to secure the witness’s attendance. However, the Court said its views on the hearsay issue were obiter because the appeal was decided on the separate error in the test applied by the High Court.
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and set aside the High Court decision. It did not grant bail. Instead, it sent the application back to the High Court for it to be dealt with as soon as possible and in accordance with law.