A man was freed by the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) yesterday after it quashed his conviction for the rape of one sister and the indecent assault of another.
The court held the trial was unsatisfactory in a number of important respects, particularly the absence of any warning to the jury of the dangers of a conviction after a delay of some 27 years between the commission of the alleged offences and the trial.
Giving the court's decision, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, noted that the jury if properly directed would, on the evidence they had heard, have been entitled to convict the man at least for the counts of indecent assault of which he was found guilty.
In normal circumstances, the CCA would order a retrial in the case, he added. However, given the lapse of time between the commission of offences and his trial, a period of more than 20 years and a delay to which it had not been shown the man had contributed to any significant degree, the court was satisfied it would not be in the interests of justice to order a retrial.
The man was convicted in July 2000 of raping his sister, A, on a date unknown between July 1st, 1973, and June 30th, 1978, and of three counts of indecently assaulting her on dates unknown between the same dates.
He was also convicted of having indecently assaulted a second sister, B, on a date unknown between July 9th, 1974, and July 28th, 1976. He was jailed for a total of 3½ years for all the offences.
Granting the man's appeal, Mr Justice Keane, with Mr Justice Lavan and Mr Justice Abbott, said the trial judge had failed in his charge to the jury to expressly direct them that they should consider the evidence in support of the counts regarding each sister separately and also reach their conclusions regarding each sister's versions of events separately.
The CCA was also satisfied, given the very significant delay of 27 years in this case between the alleged commission of the offences and the trial, that the trial judge had not given adequate warnings to the jury of the dangers of a conviction, after such a lapse of time, on any of the counts.
