DPP v Alchimionek

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Birmingham P.
• Judgment Date: 19 February 2019
• Neutral Citation: [2019] IECA 49
• Docket Number: [218/17]
• Court: Court of Appeal (Ireland)
• Date: 19 February 2019

BETWEEN

THE PEOPLE AT THE SUIT OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSCUTIONS

RESPONDENT

AND

DARIUS ALCHIMIONEK

APPELLANT

[2019] IECA 49

Birmingham P.

Birmingham P.

Edwards J.

McGovern J.

[218/17]

THE COURT OF APPEAL

Conviction – Manslaughter – Perverse verdict – Appellant seeking to appeal against conviction – Whether the verdict of the jury was perverse

Facts: On 28th April 2017 at Tullamore Circuit Court, following a trial, a jury returned verdicts convicting the appellant, Mr Alchimionek, of the manslaughter of Mr Gorman and of assault causing harm to his brother, Mr Gorman, on 29th December 2015. Subsequently, on 17th July 2017, the appellant was sentenced to a term of nine years imprisonment with three years suspended on the manslaughter charge and he was disqualified from holding a driving licence for a period of forty years. The appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal against his conviction, contending that the verdict of the jury was perverse and against the weight of the evidence.

Held by the Court that the rejection of the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity and the return of a verdict of guilty was not supported by any evidence in the case, was against all of the evidence in the case, and in those circumstances, had to be regarded as perverse.

The Court held that the verdict of guilty must be quashed.

Appeal allowed.

JUDGMENT of the Court delivered on the 19th day of February 2019 by Birmingham P.

1 On 28th April 2017 at Tullamore Circuit Court, following a trial, a jury returned verdicts convicting the appellant of the manslaughter of John Gorman and of assault causing harm to his brother, Adam Gorman, on 29th December 2015. Subsequently, on 17th July 2017, the appellant was sentenced to a term of nine years imprisonment with three years suspended on the manslaughter charge and he was disqualified from holding a Driving Licence for a period of forty years.

2 The background to the case is to be found in a road traffic collision which occurred at Geashill, County Offaly, when a vehicle driven by the appellant was driven into collision with a vehicle being driven in the opposite direction by John Gorman and in which his brother, Adam, was travelling as a passenger in the front seat. John Gorman lost his life in this collision and his brother, Adam, sustained significant injuries including a head injury, a fractured vertebrae and a fractured wrist.

3 The trial was a brief one which concluded within one day and there was no dispute about the circumstances of the road traffic collision. The evidence established that at around lunchtime on the day in question, the appellant was driving his vehicle on a relatively straight stretch of road when suddenly and without warning, he steered his vehicle onto the opposite side of the road into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The driver of that vehicle was given no opportunity to avoid a head-on collision.

4 At trial, the defence contended that the appropriate verdict was one of not guilty by reason of insanity. Indeed, this proposition was not in dispute at any stage during the trial. The defence called Dr. Stephen Monks, consultant forensic psychiatrist at the Central Mental Hospital. His evidence was that the appellant was suffering from a mental disorder to the extent that the appropriate verdict was a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Dr. Monks reviewed interviews conducted by Gardaí with the appellant in the aftermath of the accident and also himself interviewed him on a number of occasions. He concluded that the appellant had a history of severe depression and that the fatal collision may itself have been a suicide attempt. His view was that in the six months prior to the incident, the appellant had developed an evolving psychosis related to a perceived threat of terrorism, this, he categorised as Schizophrenia.

5 In the interviews with Gardaí, the appellant described how, in the days leading up to the accident, he had become increasingly obsessed with the idea that Syrian refugees in Ireland were about to engage in terrorist acts against Christians and that he would become a target. He described how, at the time of the road traffic collision, he believed that he was being pursued on the road by a car containing Muslim terrorists, that they were intent on capturing and killing him and that in order to escape them, he steered his car onto the opposite side of the road.

6 The evidence of Dr. Monks was not challenged by the prosecution. Indeed, the prosecution had obtained a report from another consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Mullaney, also of the Central Mental Hospital....