The Supreme Court has ordered a retrial for Aidan Conroy, quashing his conviction for possessing cocaine for supply and importing it after ruling that the jury should have received a warning about an uncorroborated confession.
The appeal concerned drugs found in a fire extinguisher in the cab of Conroy’s lorry and among fruit in its trailer at Dublin Port on 20 August 2015. Customs officers had detained him while they searched the vehicle. One officer said Conroy remarked, “You found the drugs then.” Conroy denied making the statement. It was not recorded at the time, and he had not been cautioned against self-incrimination.
A jury convicted him in 2018 of the charge relating to cocaine in the cab, but not the drugs in the trailer container. The trial judge admitted the alleged statement but gave no warning under section 10 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1993. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in 2020.
The Supreme Court held that section 10 applies when a confession is disputed, including where the dispute is whether the accused made it. If there is no other evidence tending to show the accused’s involvement in the crime, the judge must direct the jury to have due regard to the absence of corroboration. The alleged admission could not be corroborated simply by the prosecution’s proof of the possession it was required to establish: that would rely on the central issue in the case to support the confession.
The Court also ruled that the Judges’ Rules apply to detention for a search. It said a caution is appropriate when questions are asked, an answer should be recorded, and the record should be read back as soon as practicable. Whether a breach should lead to exclusion of a statement remains for the trial judge to decide in light of the circumstances.
The Court did not decide the wider issue of spontaneous admissions, saying it was for another case. It left the sufficiency of evidence of possession and the treatment of any alleged admission to the trial judge and jury at the retrial. It said the retrial should include an appropriate use of section 10.