A judge has adjourned sentencing four men accused of impeding the investigation into a killing due to comments in a highly critical victim impact statement read in court.
Mr Justice Barry White was due to sentence the men in the Central Criminal Court today, having heard the evidence and victim impact statement yesterday.
Two Lithuanian men, a Polish man and an Irish man have pleaded guilty to disposing of and trying to destroy the body of a woman in Wexford last year.
Rebecca French (30) was found dead in the boot of her burning car on October 9th, 2009 on the outskirts of Wexford town. The State believes she was beaten to death beforehand in the house of one of the defendants at Ard Na Dara, Clonard.
The Lithuanian defendants, Ricardas Dilys (28) Ruslanas Mineikas (26) of Goodtide Harbour and formerly of Davitt Road South, both in Wexford town, pleading not guilty to murder last month.
The murder charges were dropped when a legal technicality meant their admissions in Garda custody could not be used against them and they pleaded guilty to the lesser crime.
Gardaí then said they would not be looking for anyone else in connection with what they believed was a murder.
The other men, Patrick O’Connor (41) of Ard Na Dara, Clonard, Wexford and Piotr Pasiak (27) of Lower John Street in Wexford, had already pleaded guilty to impeding the investigation and were never on trial for murder.
The victim’s sister Rachel French read a victim impact statement to the court yesterday on behalf of the French family.
“People with criminal records in their own country should never be allowed to live among us,” she said, referring to Mineikas and Dilys’s previous convictions in Lithuania.
“The country has enough to deal with,” she added. “Justice in Ireland is sleeping while its people are dying.”
Mr Justice White today said he had not seen the report before it was read in court and now required the DPP to see it and express his view on its contents. He noted that it contained criticisms of either the DPP, the Minister for Justice or himself.
“The victim impact report displays either a lack of appreciation for the presumption of innocence, a lack of appreciation for the concept of joint enterprise or a lack of appreciation for the judicial function,” he said.
However, he added that there may well be appreciation, but contempt for the court process or the law. He noted that the French family had sought legal advice on the matter.
The judge said that if he were to proceed to sentence after that report being read in open court, he could be seen to be influenced by it.
“Justice might not be seen to be done… particularly by non nationals, having regard to the xenophobic nature of some of the comments,” he said.
“We are an ordered and lawful society,” he said. He explained that if there was an appeal on the severity of the sentence the victim impact report would be produced to the appeal court.
Mr Justice White said he would like the DPP to express his opinion on whether he should step aside as judge in the case or whether another report was necessary. He also said he would like to advise the DPP that in the future he would not accept a victim impact statement being presented to him while being read in court.
He adjourned the matter until next month for the DPP’s decision.