People (Attorney General) v Cummins

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1974
• Docket Number: [S.C. No. 35 of 1971]
• Date: 01 January 1974

The People (Attorney General)

and

Cummins

(S.C.)

Inducement - Whether a voluntary statement - Judges' Rules - Reference of question of law to the Supreme Court - Indictable offence -Preliminary examination - Statement of witness's evidence - Criminal Procedure Act, 1967 (No.12), s. 34.

The accused was tried on indictment in the Circuit Court on a count of shop-breaking and larceny in the premises of Premier Tailors (Ireland) Ltd. At the trial, the prosecution adduced evidence that the accused, while in custody in a police station in relation to another matter, was asked by a policeman "What about Premier Tailors? I believe you did it" and that the accused replied "We did it and we got £255 . . ."; evidence was given that the policeman then cautioned the accused and asked him to make a statement and that the accused replied: —"I will make no statement. Do you want me to hang myself?" The trial judge ruled that the replies of the accused were not admissible in evidence because they were not voluntary statements and, in the absence of other evidence, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty as directed by the trial judge. The Attorney General referred to the Supreme Court the question whether the trial judge had properly exercised "his judicial discretion in refusing to admit in evidence (1) the statement made by the accused . . . before any caution was administered . . ." Similar questions relating to subsequent statements of the accused were also referred to the Supreme Court but those other questions were not based on facts established by the evidence given at the trial but were based on the contents of the written statement of the evidence of a prosecution witness, which document had been prepared and used for the purposes of the preliminary examination in the District Court of the charge brought against the accused. Held, by the Supreme Court ( Ó Dálaigh C.J., Walsh, Budd, FitzGerald and McLoughlin JJ.), in answering the question contained in the Reference, 1, that an...