DPP v T.N.
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Judge | Birmingham P |
| Judgment Date | 20 June 2018 |
| Neutral Citation | [2018] IECA 191 |
| Docket Number | [274/15] |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Ireland) |
| Date | 20 June 2018 |
[2018] IECA 191
THE COURT OF APPEAL
Birmingham J.
Birmingham P.
Mahon J.
Edwards J.
[274/15]
Acquittal – Waste management – Retrial – Appellant seeking to quash the acquittal of the respondent – Whether it was in the interests of justice that the respondent be retried
Facts: The appellant, the DPP, applied to the Court of Appeal seeking to quash, on a with prejudice basis, the acquittal of the respondent by a jury on the direction of a trial judge on a number of counts alleging offences contrary to provisions of the Waste Management Act. The charges in the Circuit Court related to the respondent’s involvement in a dumping facility at Kerdiffstown, Naas, County Kildare, between October 2003 and March 2008, at a time when the waste facility was operated by Neiphin Trading Ltd. The charges faced by the respondent were that he being then a director, manager or other similar officer of Neiphin, or purporting to act in such capacity, consented to or connived in the commission by Neiphin of the offence. The judge ruled that the prosecution had not established that the accused was a director, manager or other similar officer of Neiphin or had purported to act in any such capacity. Accordingly, in its judgment of 29th January 2018, the Court of Appeal concluded that the trial judge had fallen into error. Prior to the substantive appeal being determined, the respondent had requested that if the Court of Appeal felt that the judge’s interpretation of the law was erroneous, that a further opportunity would be provided to address a number of questions. These were as follows: (i) whether there had been evidence adduced on which a jury might reasonably have been satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the respondent’s guilt in respect of the offences charged; (ii) whether, in all the circumstances, it was in the interests of justice that the respondent be retried. The Court of Appeal acceded to that request and a further hearing directed towards those issues took place on 11th June 2018.
Held by the Court that in all the circumstances of this case, it was in the interests of justice that the acquittal should be quashed and that the Court should direct a retrial.
The Court held that it would hear from counsel in relation to any ancillary orders that were required.
Appeal allowed.
On 29th January 2018, this Court gave judgment in an application brought by the DPP seeking to quash, on a with prejudice basis, the acquittal of Mr. TN by a jury on the direction of a trial judge on a number of counts alleging offences contrary to provisions of the Waste Management Act. In the course of that judgment, the background to the trial, which took place between 8th and 23rd October 2015, is set out in some considerable detail and it is not proposed to repeat that exercise at this stage. Sufficient for now to recall that the charges in the Circuit Court related to the respondent's involvement, to use that neutral phrase, in a dumping facility at Kerdiffstown, Naas, County Kildare, between October 2003 and March 2008, at a time when the waste facility was operated by Neiphin Trading Ltd. The charges faced by Mr. TN were that he being then a director, manager or other similar officer of Neiphin Trading Ltd., or purporting to act in such capacity, consented to or connived in the commission by Neiphin Trading Ltd. of the offence.
Following the conclusion of the prosecution evidence in the trial, the judge ruled that the prosecution had not established that the accused was a director, manager or other similar officer of Neiphin or had purported to act in any such capacity. The trial court held that the evidence did not go so far as to establish that he was a decision maker within the...
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