Wexford Timber Company v Wexford Corporation and Wexford County Council

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1954
• Date: 01 January 1954

S.C.

Wexford Timber Company

and

Wexford Corporationand Wexford County Council

Premises broken and entered - Property stolen from premises -Thief apprehended but insane - No direct evidence of how fire started - Finding by High Court that fire originated from some act of thief - Evidence - Whether act of thief malicious, wanton or merely accidental - Grand Jury (Ireland) Act, 1836, s.135.

Fire broke out in the premises of applicants on the night of 25th/26th December, 1949, doing damage to the extent of £6,455 7s.. 4d.. After the fire it was discovered that the premises had been broken into, and an effort made to force a safe in the premises. Subsequently a man was arrested; when so arrested he was found to be in possession of property removed from the said premises. He was charged in the District Court with unlawfully breaking and entering the premises and stealing the articles above mentioned and also with unlawfully setting fire to the said premises. While he charges were pending he was certified as insane and was removed to a mental asylum. At the time of the hearing in the High Court he was still a patient in the said asylum. He was called to give evidence in the High Court before Haugh J., and after hearing medical evidence as to his condition the learned trial Judge permitted him to give evidence but cautioned him in the usual way that he was not obliged to answer any question the answer to which might tend to incriminate him. He then refused to answer any questions in relation to the fire. The learned trial Judge stated a case for the opinion of the Supreme Court in which the following finding occurred:—"I find as a fact that the fire which occurred upon the premises of the Wexford Timber Company at Crescent Quay upon the morning of the 26th December,; 1949, originated through some act of the said James O'Neill (i.e.,the man...