A judge convened a special court sitting yesterday to correct a remark he made about a leading barrister before he discharged a jury during a rape case last week.
Mr Justice Patrick Smith said in the Central Criminal Court he regretted saying prosecuting counsel Mr Gregory Murphy SC had intentionally tried to mislead the jury during his closing address and he ordered the deletion of the remark from the official transcript of the proceedings.
"I personally very much regret that the words were in fact spoken by me. I also regret any distress caused to Mr Murphy who has always been a very honourable member of the Inner Bar," the judge said.
He recalled that on May 13th Mr Anthony Sammon SC, for the 25-year-old accused man, applied for a discharge of the jury following Mr Murphy's address on the second day of the trial.
Mr Sammon had said it was incorrect of Mr Murphy to tell the jury that the defendant had not denied the alleged rape at the earliest opportunity, as he said "that's not true" when first approached on the matter by gardai.
Mr Justice Smith said that in acceding to Mr Sammon's application during legal argument in the absence of the jury he had ruled Mr Murphy's submission to the jury had been incorrect in one respect.
Quoting from the transcript the judge acknowledged he had added: "I have no doubt in my mind that it was given with the intention of misleading the jury." He regretted making this comment and it was now deleted from the transcript, he said.
The judge had not repeated the comment when he told the jury he was stopping the trial. The defendant, from Dublin, is charged with raping a 20-year-old woman in 1996.