DPP v Callan

JurisdictionIreland
JudgeFINLAY C.J.
Judgment Date14 May 1986
Neutral Citation1986 WJSC-CCA 398
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeal
Date14 May 1986

1986 WJSC-CCA 398

THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL

Finlay C.J.

Barron J.

Blayney J.

112/85
DPP v. CALLAN
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
v.
NOEL CALLAN

Citations:

CRIMINAL LAW (JURISDICTION) ACT 1976 S5

JUDGES RULES R9

LARCENY ACT 1916 S23

Synopsis:

EVIDENCE

Admissibility

Statements (remarks) made by accused - Judges” Rules - Inferences drawn by court of trial - Trial in Special Criminal Court - Conviction for capital murder of policeman by shooting - First remarks recorded in writing but accused not asked to sign record since he was in hospital in apparent coma for several days after arrest - Second remark made by accused when travelling to trial - Second remark recorded in writing but accused refused to sign record - Accused denied at trial that he made the remarks - "Is the Guard dead?" - "Why did he follow us, didn't he know that he would be shot?" - Held that court of trial acted correctly in exercising its discretion to admit evidence of the remarks made by the accused despite non-compliance with Judges” rules - Held also that the inferences drawn by the court of trial from those remarks were reasonable - Refusal of application for leave to appeal - (112/85 - C.C.A. - 14/5/86) - 3 Frewen 98

|The People (D.P.P.) v. Callan|

1

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT delivered on the 14th day of May 1986 by FINLAY C.J.

2

This is an application for a Certificate of Leave to appeal against a conviction by the Special Criminal Court on the 3rd December 1985 on Count No. 1 for the capital murder of Sergeant Patrick Morrissey on the 27th day of June 1985, he then being a member of the Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty, and on Count No. 2 for a robbery contrary to Section 23 of the Larceny Act 1916, as inserted by Section 5 of the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act 1976, from Sean Boyle of approximately £25,000 in cash.

3

The uncontested facts as to what occurred at the Labour Exchange at Ardee where the robbery occurred and thereafter prior to the shooting of Sergeant Morrissey were thus set out in the verdict of the Special Criminal Court and are a convenient description of the events out of which these charges arose.

4

2 "1. At 9.55 a.m., approximately, on the 27th day of June 1985, Sean Boyle the Manager of the Social Welfare Office at Dundalk Road, Ardee in the County of Louth was robbed of the sum of £25,000 in notes and a quantity of silver amounting to £250 approximately.

5

2. The robbery was executed by two men wearing combat jackets of a different type, balaclavas, and carrying firearms which were used during the execution of the robbery.

6

3. The two men took possession of Mr. Boyle's car, a Stanza motor vehicle, registration No. RZY 777, made good their escape from Ardee, travelling first in the Dunleer direction and then back in the direction of the Drogheda Road.

7

4. While the robbery was in progress an official garda car being driven by Guard Long in which Guard Brendan Flynn was travelling as a passenger and who were in garda uniform, came to the scene.

8

5. They slowed down as they approached the Social Welfare Office and noticed a man wearing a balaclava and a camouflage jacket and carrying a shotgun, emerge from behind Mr. Boyle's car.

9

6. The car then accelerated in the direction of Dunleer and as it was doing so two shots were fired in its direction by one of the raiders, the raider wearing the balaclava and the multi-coloured camouflage jacket.

10

7. The Stanza car sped in the direction of Dunleer and as it did so Mr. Cluskey threw a stone through the passenger window, shattering the glass therein.

11

8. Garda Long and Garda Flynn turned the patrol car at Dawson Demesne and returned to the Social Welfare Office and then proceeded to Castle Street where they collected the late Sergeant Patrick Morrissey who was in full garda uniform, and they then travelled in the direction of Tallanstown where they set up a roadblock.

12

9. The raiders abandoned Mr. Boyle's car at or in Farrell's Field, Pepperstown, Ardee, where it and a black tin containing £25,000 which had been taken from Mr. Boyle's car were subsequently discovered.

13

10. Shortly after setting up the roadblock, a motorcycle approached, turned right at the junction on the incorrect side of the traffic island.

14

11. Garda Long noticed that the driver of the motorcycle was wearing a camouflage jacket similar to that worn by the raider who had shot at the car in Ardee, and that the pillion passenger was wearing a combat jacket.

15

12. Sergeant Morrissey, Guard Long and Guard Flynn got back into the patrol car and followed the motorcycle in the direction of Rathbrist Cross.

16

13. They had the motorcycle in view from a distance of approximately 200 yards until it rounded the left- hand bend at Rathbrist Cross.

17

14. When they rounded the bend Garda Long and Garda Flynn saw the same two men who were on the motorcycle running across the road and going into the main entrance to McDermott's house.

18

15. The motorcycle had crashed into a motor vehicle registered No. 346 TZU, the property of Mrs. Mallon.

19

16. In the immediate vicinity of the scene of the crash was found

20

(a) a green carrier bag containing a sawn-off shotgun and a sawn-off rifle similar to the guns used in the execution of the robbery at Ardee

(b) a bag containing coins
(c) a blue balaclava
(d) a black glove
21

(e) considerable quantities of broken glass and a black glove of knitted material."

22

There was further uncontested evidence of the subsequent events. Two of the occupants of Rathbrist House, Sean Pierre McDermott and Mary Kindlon, heard a shot being fired and Mr. McDermott then saw one of the persons who had been on the motor-bicycle standing over Sergeant Morrissey on the avenue, close to the house, and firing a second shot which killed him. Almost at the same moment Mr. McDermott saw the second man at the front of the house walking in the direction of where Sergeant Morrissey was, and so in a position from which he must have seen the shooting. This second man appeared to have blood on one of his hands which he held over his head.

23

Evidence was then given of a trail of blood from Rathbrist House through fields, lanes and roads, which eventually led to a barley field some distance away where the applicant was found in a ditch, partly covered by grass and other vegetation, in an injured condition, bleeding from the hand. Another man who was the co-accused with the applicant, Michael McHugh, was found in the same field. In the field, not far from the applicant, was found the gun established to have been used in the shooting of Sergeant Morrissey, and a balaclava helmet. The applicant was arrested and taken from the ditch by a number of members of the Garda Siochana. As he was being escorted from the field and being linked by the Gardai, he asked: "Is the guard dead?", and was informed that he was. He was then cautioned by Detective Sergeant Finnegan.

24

The evidence was that the applicant then said: "Why did he follow us, didn't he know that he would be shot?". The applicant became weak in crossing the field to get to the garda car and was subsequently carried to that car and driven straight to the Casualty Department of the Louth...

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