High Court clears way for man’s trial on indecent assault charges

The High Court has cleared the way for the trial of a man accused of sexually abusing a child more than 30 years ago to proceed.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had sought orders preventing his trial before the Circuit Criminal Court, where he faces 18 charges of indecent assault, from going ahead.

The man denies the allegations and claims that due to a prosecutorial delay, he would not get a fair trial before a judge and jury.

In a judgement, Mr Justice Garrett Simons dismissed the man’s action. He said this was not one of those exceptional cases where there is cogent evidence demonstrating that there is a real risk of an unfair trial such as to justify an order of prohibition being made by the High Court in judicial review proceedings.

The man is accused of indecently assaulting a female on dates during the 1980s, when she was between three and four years of age. The accused was aged also a minor at the time of the alleged offences.

The allegations have been made by a woman, who at the time of the alleged offences was being looked after by a relative of the accused. The complainant made allegations about him to gardaí in 2016 and the accused made a statement to the force in 2018 about them.

The man’s application to halt the trial was opposed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Known to parents

The accused claimed that the matters complained of were made known to the complainant’s parents in the mid-1980s and that the matter was referred to the sexual assault treatment unit of a hospital.

In his decision, the judge said the court was being asked to infer that the allegations were brought to the attention of gardaí at that time of the alleged offences.

The accused had claimed that while there was no direct evidence that gardaí knew about the complaint in the 1980s, it was submitted that a reasonable inference could be drawn to this effect.

Other allegations around the same time against the accused, relating to another child, had been referred to An Garda Síochána.

The judge said if a complaint by the woman’s parents had been made to gardaí in the 1980s, then there would have been blameworthy prosecutorial delay, and grounds for staying any trial from going ahead decades later.

However, the court was not satisfied on the balance of probability that the accused had established that such a complaint was ever received by gardaí.

It did not follow that because a complaint from other parties were made in and around the same time that another one was made in respect of the complainant in this case, the judge said.

In the circumstances, the judge presiding over the man’s criminal trial would be best placed to determine any issue of prosecutorial delay, said Mr Justice Simons as he dismissed the action and cleared the way for the trial to proceed.