Fitzpatrick v Shields

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: High Court
• Judge: MISS JUSTICE CARROLL
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1989
• Neutral Citation: 1989 WJSC-HC 1494
• Docket Number: JR No. 179/1987.
• Date: 01 January 1989

1989 WJSC-HC 1494

THE HIGH COURT

JR No. 179/1987.

FITZPATRICK v. SHIELDS

JUDICIAL REVIEW

BETWEEN

JOAN FITZPATRICK

Applicant

and

DISTRICT JUSTICE DANIEL SHIELDS and THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLICPROSECUTIONS

Respondents

1 JUDGMENT OF MISS JUSTICE CARROLL, DELIVERED THE 27th DAY OF NOVEMBER 1987.

2 The periods of delay in this case can be broken into several stages. First there is the investigation from October 1983 until December 1985. The State cannot just walk away from this period on ground that the Detective who was initially investigating the matter was transferred from the Garda Fraud Squad and that consequently the investigation had to be handed over to another detective. Second, there is the decision to prosecute the applicant taken in January 1986. Third, the applicant was arrested on the 27th of May 1986. Fourth, the Book of Evidence was served on the Applicant on the 25th of June 1986. Thus there was a six month delay between the decision to prosecute and the service of the Book of Evidence on the Applicant. Also the Book of Evidence does not contain all the evidence of the charges against the applicant. It does not contain crucial evidence, namely statements from the...