Retrial of former GP cannot take place until 2011 as no judge available

THE RETRIAL of former GP Paschal Carmody on deception charges will not now take place until next year due to the unavailability of a judge to hear the case sooner.

At Ennis Circuit Court in Clare yesterday, counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan said he was under strict instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that the case be disposed of as there is a very strong public interest in the case.

Mr Coughlan said that Mr Carmody (62) of Ballycuggeran, Killaloe was first charged in December 2007 and was returned for trial in the case on March 2008.

Addressing Judge Rory McCabe, Mr Coughlan said: “Judge, you presided over the trial that started at Ennis Circuit Court on June 25th, 2008, and ended on July 24th, 2008.”

In the case, a jury found Mr Carmody – who was in court yesterday – not guilty on six charges of deception and failed to reach a verdict on the remaining 11 charges.

The 11 outstanding counts relate to Mr Carmody facing charges of obtaining €30,854 by deception from three terminally ill patients who received Photodynamic Therapy at the East Clinic in Killaloe in 2001-02.

Mr Coughlan said the DPP directed to retry Mr Carmody on the 11 charges and a High Court judicial review by Mr Carmody challenging the decision was unsuccessful.

A DPP application to transfer the trial from Clare to Dublin was turned down by Judge Carroll Moran.

“It is now almost three years since the case came before the court and it is not completed as yet,” Mr Coughlan said.

The two sides had agreed that the case could proceed on November 30th if a judge could be assigned.

However, Mr Coughlan said: “It is my understanding that a judge is not available.”

Mr Coughlan said that because of the public interest in the case that it be listed as a priority case on the first day of the statutory sittings on February 22nd next in Ennis.

Mr Coughlan said that the case could be adjourned to November 8th to confirm a trial date.