Attorney-General v Elizabeth Edwards and Rose Edwards

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 14 May 1935
• Date: 14 May 1935
• Court: Court of Criminal Appeal (Irish Free State)

Court of Criminal Appeal.

Attorney-General v. Edwards

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

and

ELIZABETH EDWARDS and ROSE EDWARDS (1)

Criminal law - Evidence - Murder -Corpus delicti - Dead body not found -

Manner of death not proved - Onus of proof.

Criminal Appeal.

Elizabeth Edwards and Rose Edwards appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal against their conviction in the Central Criminal Court on the 28th March, 1935, on a charge of murder. They had been indicted jointly for the murder, on the 16th or 17th day of October, 1934, of Mary Teresa Edwards, the illegitimate child of the said Elizabeth Edwards. Sentence of death was imposed on each of the accused by O'Byrne J., who, upon the application of counsel for the accused, granted the following certificate under sect. 31 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, to each of the accused, viz.:—

"I do hereby certify that the case is a fit case for an appeal on the following grounds:—

The body of the said Mary Teresa Edwards was not found, and no medical evidence was, or could be, tendered to the jury that she died a violent death.

Was the jury, in the absence of direct evidence of a killing, and on the facts before it in this case, entitled to infer that the said Mary Teresa Edwards was murdered."

The further facts are fully stated in the judgment of the Court.

On a trial for the murder of an illegitimate infant, the daughter of one of the two accused (who were two sisters), evidence was given by both the accused that the infant had died and had been buried by them in a place pointed out by them to the Civic Guards. No body was found at this place. The jury found both the accused guilty of murder. The trial Judge certified that the case was a fit case for an appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal on the grounds that the body had not been found and that no medical evidence had, or could have been, tendered that the infant had died a violent death, and whether the jury, in the absence of direct evidence of a killing, and on the facts before them, were entitled to infer that the infant had been murdered.

Held, that the verdict could not be set aside.

Cur. adv. vult.

The judgment of the Court was delivered by FitzGibbon J.

FitzGibbon J. :—

The appellants were indicted jointly for the murder, on the 16th or 17th day of October, 1934, of Mary Teresa Edwards, the illegitimate female child of the appellant Elizabeth Edwards. The trial took place at the Central Criminal Court before Mr. Justice O'Byrne on March 26th, 27th and 28th, and the jury convicted both the appellants of murder.

Mr. Justice O'Byrne granted a certificate that the case was a fit one for an appeal, and the appeal has been heard upon the grounds stated in his certificate, which is in these terms:—

"I do hereby certify that the case is a fit case for an appeal on the following grounds:—

The body of the said Mary Teresa Edwards was not

found and no medical evidence was, or could be, tendered to the jury that she died a violent death.

Was the jury, in the absence of direct evidence of any killing, and on the facts before it in this case, entitled to infer that the said Mary Teresa Edwards was murdered."

The following facts have been admitted or established:—

About 11 p.m. on the night of October 2nd, 1934, the appellants called at the house of a Dr. Coyne who lived almost on the road between their own home and the County Home in Roscommon. Elizabeth was then in great pain, and Dr. Coyne took them both with him in his own car to the County Home, where Elizabeth was delivered of a female child within about half an hour of her arrival. During the following fortnight Elizabeth was visited by Rose, the other appellant, "a few times during visiting hours." On October 16th about 4 p.m. the appellant Rose Edwards called at the County Home with a car driven by one John Keegan, and the two appellants came out of the Home, Elizabeth, having a baby in her arms, got into the car, Elizabeth and the baby in the back, Rose in front with Keegan, and told Keegan to drive to Castlestrange, where their home was. As the car was leaving Roscommon, one of the appellants ordered Keegan to go by Athleague, which made the journey 2¹/₄ miles longer than the more direct road by Fuerty, which would have brought them past the place where their father and brother were working. At Athleague Rose got out of the car and purchased one or two loaves of bread, which were put up in a parcel, and with which she returned to the car. The car then drove on to an avenue gate leading to a derelict mansion called the Orchard. Rose got out and opened the gate, let the car through, got in again, and the car drove up the avenue to the...