Brennan v The Governor of Castlerea Prison, Maguire v Governor Dochas Centre

JurisdictionIreland
JudgeMs. Justice Dunne
Judgment Date08 February 2019
Neutral Citation[2019] IESC 5
Date08 February 2019
CourtSupreme Court
Docket Number[Appeal No. S:AP:IE:2017:000121]
BETWEEN
SANDRA MAGUIRE
APPLICANT/APPELLANT
AND
GOVERNOR OF DÓCHAS CENTRE
RESPONDENT
AND
BETWEEN
THOMAS BRENNAN
APPLICANT/APPELLANT
AND
THE GOVERNOR OF CASTLEREA PRISON
RESPONDENT

[2019] IESC 5

Dunne J.

Clarke C.J.

McKechnie J.

Dunne J.

O'Malley Iseult J.

Finlay Geoghegan J.

[Appeal No. S:AP:IE:2017:000121]

[Appeal No. S:AP:IE:2017:000117]

THE SUPREME COURT

Failure to appear – Re-hearing – Committal warrant – Appellants seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court – Whether an appeal from a criminal conviction and/or a sentence in the District Court to the Circuit Court requires a full re-hearing in the Circuit Court in circumstances where the appellant fails to appear, or for other reason does not prosecute his appeal

Facts: These proceedings were part of a series of cases which were unrelated in themselves but in which the same legal issues arose for consideration. Apart from the two cases named in the title of this judgment, a further three cases were the subject of the judgment which was under appeal in these proceedings and those three cases involving Morufu Ademola Animashaun v Governor of Mountjoy Prison, Napoleon Silaghi v Judge John O'Hagan and the Director of Public Prosecutions and Lucian Marina v Judge John O'Hagan and the Director of Public Prosecutions were also the subject of appeals to the Supreme Court and awaited the decision of the Court in the appeal of these two cases which were heard together by the Court. A single determination was made in respect of the applications for leave to appeal to the Court in all five cases and the issues in relation to which leave to appeal were summarised as follows: (1) whether an appeal from a criminal conviction and/or a sentence in the District Court to the Circuit Court requires a full re-hearing in the Circuit Court in circumstances where the appellant fails to appear, or for other reason does not prosecute his appeal; (2) whether the committal warrant issued by the Circuit Court following the imposition of, or affirmation of, a prison sentence in an appeal from the District Court need necessarily record that the Circuit Court judge considered making a community service order prior to, or as an alternative to, the imposition of a prison sentence of twelve months or less, pursuant to s. 3 of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011, and whether a committal warrant is invalidated because it omits a reference to the sentencing judge having considered the suitability of a community service order prior to imposition of a sentence.

Held by Dunne J that the Court of Appeal, in concluding that a Circuit Court judge was empowered to strike out an appeal from the District Court against conviction or sentence and to affirm the decision of the District Court in circumstances where the appellant fails to turn up in court, was correct. Dunne J held that it is not necessary for a committal warrant to recite the fact that a judge has considered the possibility of community service as an alternative to imprisonment on the face of the warrant as such a requirement would be above and beyond what is necessary to show the basis of the jurisdiction exercised by the court concerned on which the prison governor concerned is obliged to act.

Dunne J held that she would dismiss the appeals.

Appeals dismissed.

Judgment of Ms. Justice Dunne delivered the 8th day of February 2019
1

The above entitled proceedings were part of a series of cases which were unrelated in themselves but in which the same legal issues arose for consideration. Apart from the two cases named in the title of this judgment, a further three cases were the subject of the judgment which is under appeal in these proceedings and those three cases involving Morufu Ademola Animashaun v. Governor of Mountjoy Prison, Napoleon Silaghi v. Judge John O'Hagan and The Director of Public Prosecutions and finally Lucian Marina v. Judge John O'Hagan and The Director of Public Prosecutions are also the subject of appeals to this Court and await the decision of this Court in the appeal of these two cases which were heard together by this Court.

2

A single determination was made in respect of the applications for leave to appeal to this Court in all five cases and the issues in relation to which leave to appeal can be summarised as follows:

• Whether an appeal from a criminal conviction and/or a sentence in the District Court to the Circuit Court requires a full re-hearing in the Circuit Court in circumstances where the appellant fails to appear, or for other reason does not prosecute his appeal.

• Whether the committal warrant issued by the Circuit Court following the imposition of, or affirmation of, a prison sentence in an appeal from the District Court need necessarily record that the Circuit Court judge considered making a community service order prior to, or as an alternative to, the imposition of a prison sentence of twelve months or less, pursuant to s. 3 of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011, and whether a committal warrant is invalidated because it omits a reference to the sentencing judge having considered the suitability of a community service order prior to imposition of a sentence.

Background
3

In order to explain the context of the legal issues that arise in these cases, it would be useful to set out the backgrounds of the cases involving Ms. Maguire and Mr. Brennan. Ms. Maguire was convicted of stealing clothing, valued at €23.50 contrary to s. 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. She was sentenced to three months imprisonment on the 11th September, 2015. On the same day, Ms. Maguire lodged a notice of appeal against the order of the District Court and she duly signed a recognisance in respect of the appeal in the sum of her own bond of €500. On the 16th October, 2015, Ms. Maguire was present in court and represented by counsel. Legal aid was assigned to Mr. Collier, solicitor. The case was adjourned to the 7th December, 2015 to allow full instructions to be taken and for consideration as to whether Ms. Maguire would appeal against severity of conviction and sentence, or against severity of sentence only. On the 7th December, 2015, Mr. Collier appeared in court but neither Ms. Maguire nor the prosecuting garda were present on that day. It was indicated to the court that the appeal was against severity of sentence only and the case was adjourned to the 11th January, 2016.

4

On the 11th January, 2016, counsel appeared for Ms. Maguire but she herself did not appear on that date. Counsel did not have instructions as to her whereabouts and asked for the matter to be put back to second calling. That was done. When the matter was reached at second calling Ms. Maguire was still not present in court and despite an application for a further adjournment, the Circuit Court judge refused to adjourn the matter further and affirmed the District Court order. It appears that no evidence was tendered to the court in respect of the particulars of the charge or Ms. Maguire's circumstances and previous convictions. It further appears that on the 11th January, 2016 Ms. Maguire was in fact an in-patient at Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown. That was something which was not known to her solicitor, to the prosecuting garda or to the Circuit Court. Finally, it was noted in the judgment of the learned High Court judge, (Eager J.) in his judgment of the 30th June, 2016:

‘There is no evidence before the court as to whether (a) the applicant contacted Mr. Collier with a view to finding out when her appeal was listed, or (b) whether Mr. Collier wrote to the applicant informing her of the date to which the case had been adjourned.’

Mr. Collier in an affidavit sworn in these proceedings sought an inquiry under Article 40.4.2° of the Constitution in respect of the warrant entitled ‘Committal Warrant after appeal’ issued by the Dublin Circuit Court on the 11th January, 2016 on the basis that the warrant contained an error on its face, in that it stated there had been a hearing of the appeal in circumstances where there was no actual hearing on the appeal, as the order of the Circuit Court judge recited:

‘No appearance, strike out appeal, affirm conviction and order of the District Court and ordered that the accused be imprisoned for a period of three months.’

5

It might be said at this point it is unfortunate, given that Ms. Maguire was in hospital at the relevant time, that no application was made to re-instate her appeal as soon as that fact became known. Such an application might well have been open to favourable consideration by the Circuit Court although such an application would necessarily depend on the circumstances in any given case. (See Richards v O'Donohoe 2017 2 I.R. 157.)

6

The following are the facts in relation to Mr. Brennan. He was convicted on the 16th May, 2016 at Galway District Court of a number of road traffic offences and was sentenced to a total of nine months imprisonment. He appealed his conviction having filed recognisances. On the day for the hearing of the appeal which seems to have been an appeal against sentence only, Mr. Brennan did not appear. The learned High Court judge (Donnelly J.) commented that:

‘On the day in question, it appears that the Circuit Court judge behaved impeccably, giving him plenty of time to appear on the day.’

She quoted from the grounding affidavit of Mr. Chris Hogan, solicitor of Poe Kiely Hogan Lanigan, solicitors for the applicant, in the affidavit grounding the application for an inquiry pursuant to the provisions of Article 40.4.2° of the Constitution where it is stated:

‘I say and believe and am so informed by counsel that when the case was called for the third time on the 22nd July, 2016, and it was apparent that the applicant had not appeared, the State solicitor informed the Court that the applicant had not appeared for...

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2 cases
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    ...42 Reliance was placed in this regard on the very recent judgment of the Supreme Court in Brennan v. The Governor of Castlerea Prison [2019] IESC 5 ( unreported 8 February 2019). ‘43. It is clear that the longstanding practice of the Circuit Court in circumstances where the appellant does ......
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