People (Attorney General) v Tyrrell

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 22 June 1970
• Docket Number: [No. 48 of 1969]
• Date: 22 June 1970
• Court: Court of Criminal Appeal

The People (Attorney General) v. Tyrrell

THE PEOPLE (at the Suit of THE ATTORNEY GENERAL)

and

LIAM TYRRELL

[No. 48 of 1969]

Court of Criminal Appeal

Criminal law - Appeal - Legal aid - Statute - Interpretation - Amending legislation - Existing right of appeal removed - Apparent inadvertence - Whether court bound to give effect to result of apparent oversight - Courts of Justice Act, 1924 (No. 10 of 1924), ss. 31, 63 - Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962 (No. 12 of 1962), s. 4, sub-s. 3 - Criminal Procedure Act,1967 (No. 12 of 1967), s. 13, sub-s. 2 (b).

The defendant pleaded guilty in the District Court to a charge that he had committed an indictable offence and that court, pursuant to s. 13, sub-s. 2(b), of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967, sent him forward for sentence with that plea to the Circuit Court where he was duly sentenced. The defendant was refused a legal aid (appeal) certificate and he then applied for such certificate to the Court of Criminal Appeal in reliance upon the provisions of s. 4, sub-s. 3, of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962. The defendant required the certificate for the purpose of a further application to the Court of Criminal Appeal for leave to appeal against the alleged severity of his sentence.

Held by the Court of Criminal Appeal (McLoughlin, Henchy and Pringle JJ.), in refusing the applications, 1, that the Court had no jurisdiction to grant the certificate as the Court was not "the court to which an appeal from the conviction lies" within the meaning of s. 4, sub-s. 3, of the Act of 1962 because, assuming that the defendant had been convicted in the Circuit Court, the jurisdiction of the Court in respect of criminal appeals from the Circuit Court was conferred by s. 63 of the Courts of Justice Act, 1924, and was limited to cases "tried on indictment"; and a person who has been sent forward with a plea of guilty to the Circuit Court for sentence pursuant to s. 13, sub-s. 2(b), of the Act of 1967, and who has been sentenced in that court without having withdrawn his plea, has not been tried on indictment.

2. That, as the defendant had not been tried on indictment, the Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the application for leave to appeal against sentence.

The State (Williams) v. Kelly (No. 2) [1970] I.R. 271 applied.

Semble: The defendant had not been convicted in the Circuit Court for the purposes of s. 4, sub-s. 3, of the Act of 1962 and for that reason also the Court of Criminal Appeal was not "the court to which an appeal from the conviction lies" within the meaning of the sub-section and so lacked jurisdiction to entertain the application for a legal aid (appeal) certificate.

Criminal Appeal.

The defendant, Liam Tyrrell, served notice on the 28th November, 1969, of his application to the Court of Criminal Appeal for leave to appeal against a sentence of three years penal servitude which had been imposed by the Circuit Court on the 13th October after the defendant had been sent forward by the District Court for sentence pursuant to s. 13, sub-s. 2(b), of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1967. On the 16th January, 1970, the defendant applied in person to the Court of Criminal Appeal for a legal aid (appeal) certificate pursuant to s. 4, sub-s. 3, of the Criminal Justice (Legal Aid) Act, 1962, and the application for such certificate was then adjourned to enable the defendant to be represented by solicitor and counsel. The application was heard on the 13th May.

Section 4, sub-s. 1, of the Act of 1962 provides as follows:—

"(1) Where—

• (a...