A High Court judge said yesterday she would give judgment soon on an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions alleging contempt of court in articles published in the Evening Herald following the murder of a young woman. Counsel for the newspaper opposed the application and argued it should be dismissed.
In proceedings by the DPP against Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd, Evening Herald editor Gerard O'Regan and journalist Ann-Marie Walsh, the DPP is seeking an order directing the attachment or committal to prison and/or sequestration of the assets of the respondents for alleged contempt in relation to material published in the newspaper in early December last.
It is claimed that the material published was calculated to interfere with the course of justice and the trial process between the DPP and a man who appeared before the District Court on a murder charge and who was remanded.
John Forde, a solicitor in the office of the chief prosecution solicitor, in an affidavit, said that on the day after the man was charged with murder in the District Court, the newspaper published a front-page article which purported to describe in detail the nature of the assault on the dead woman and the manner in which she met her death.
On page three of the newspaper, there were two further articles. One described the family of the victim and the accused and contained comments attributed to members of the local community about members of that family, including the accused. The other article described the District Court proceedings and concluded with a brief account of the postmortem examination.
Mr Forde said he believed the publications were calculated to interfere with the course of justice and the trial process and to prejudice the fair trial of the accused. The publications took place subsequent to the criminal charge against the accused and his remand in custody and in breach of the sub-judice rule and contained details in respect of the remand which amounted to contempt.
In an affidavit, Paula Mullooly, solicitor for the respondents, referred to reports in The Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Star and Irish Examiner published in or about the same time as the report which was the subject matter of the contempt proceedings.
As far she was aware, added Ms Mullooly, the respondents were the only ones in respect of whom contempt proceedings had been instituted by the DPP.
Applying for the contempt proceedings to be dismissed, Shane Murphy SC, for the respondents, said it was clear from the legal authorities that it was essential that there must be proof that what had taken place ran a real risk of interference with a criminal trial.
No evidence had been adduced as to the imminence of any criminal trial in the case or when a trial would take place. There was no evidence the publications caused any real risk of interference with a trial.
Feichín McDonagh SC, for the DPP, submitted that a classic case of contempt had been committed in the present case. He said other newspaper reports had been without any substantive comment.
Reserving judgment, Miss Justice Elizabeth Dunne said she would deal with the matter as soon as she could, probably in a few days or perhaps a week.