Sandra Higgins retrial collapses on serious harm charge

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Sandra Higgins’s retrial on a charge of intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm was discharged at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, reported on 2 May 2017.

The jury had begun considering its verdict when the foreman disclosed that she had searched online for background information about a witness. Judge Martin Nolan discharged the jury after another juror raised concerns about continuing to deliberate.

Higgins had pleaded not guilty in the retrial, which followed an earlier jury’s failure to reach a verdict. The Director of Public Prosecutions was to consider a third trial, while Higgins remained on continuing bail and the case was listed for 11 May.