DPP v McDermott

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1991
• Date: 01 January 1991
• Docket Number: [C.C.A. No. 7 of 1990]
• Court: Court of Criminal Appeal

Court of Criminal Appeal

[C.C.A. No. 7 of 1990]

The People (Director of Public Prosecutions) v. McDermott

The People (at the suit of The Director of Public Prosecutions)

and

John McDermott

Cases mentioned in this report:—

The People (Attorney General) v. Casey [1963] I.R. 33.

The People (Attorney General) v. Fagan (1974) 1 Frewen 375.

The People (Director of Public Prosecutions) v. Molloy (Court of Criminal Appeal, ex tempore, 16th July, 1990).

The People (Director of Public Prosecutions) v. O'Reilly [1990] 2 I.R. 415.

Criminal law - Evidence - Visual identification - Admissibility of evidence of identification - Accused identified entering labour exchange - Formal identification parade not held - Whether informal identification admissible in evidence - Trial judge's warning to jury on danger of convicting on evidence of visual identification only - Whether adequate.

Criminal Appeal.

The applicant applied for leave to appeal against his conviction in the Dublin Circuit Court on the 25th January, 1990, before His Honour Judge Lynch and a jury on a charge of robbery contrary to s. 23 of the Larceny Act, 1916, as substituted by s. 5 of the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act, 1976, and larceny contrary to s. 2 of the Larceny Act, 1916. Notice of application for leave to appeal was lodged on the 9th February, 1990. Notice of motion and a grounding affidavit were lodged on the 25th July, 1990, for leave to appeal and bail pending appeal. On the 8th October, 1990, the Court refused the application for bail.

The application for leave to appeal was heard by the Court of Criminal Appeal (Finlay C.J., Egan and Johnson JJ.) on the 17th December, 1990.

The applicant was convicted of robbery and sentenced to six years imprisonment. The only evidence connecting him with the crime was the evidence of identification of a witness. This witness, a security man, was attacked and robbed by an armed man as he was attempting to deposit a parcel of money in a night safe of a bank. Before depositing the money, the witness had circled the surrounding area and had seen a man at a bus stop. Five days later, the security man was brought by the gardaí to a labour exchange where, after approximately one hundred people had entered and exited from the exchange, he identified the accused as being the man who had robbed him and the man he had seen at the bus stop. At his trial the accused pleaded not guilty. Upon his conviction the applicant applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal for leave to...