Six murder and rape trials may not go ahead due to lack of judges

Six separate murder and rape trials listed to open before the Central Criminal Court on Monday may not proceed due to a lack of judges available to hear them.

While the anticipated appointment of three more High Court judges this week may go some way towards reducing waiting times for hearings of criminal trials, there is mounting concern among criminal lawyers about the delays in getting criminal trials under way.

"Steps need to be taken urgently," a senior criminal barrister said. "There's been a lot of media focus on the Special Criminal Court, which only hears a small number of trials and appeals. There is a much more serious problem with delays in getting trials on in the Central Criminal Court and the circuit courts."

Because criminal trials involve witnesses, they have been most severely affected by the cancellation of trials resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The criminal courts are continuing to struggle with the backlog of cases resulting from the pandemic and other factors, including an increase in prosecutions for several serious offences, including rape. Some trials are also lasting longer due to contested disputes concerning phone and CCTV evidence which in turn impacts on the availability of judges.

Vulnerable witnesses

Current waiting times for trials in the Central Criminal Court and several circuit criminal courts are between one and three years. Priority is given to cases where the defendant is in custody and those involving children and vulnerable witnesses. Such trials have a 12-month waiting time while cases where an accused is on bail may have a three-year wait for a trial date.

The hearing of criminal trials resumed last April following the lifting of a series of Covid-19 restrictions. With a view to ensuring the safety of jurors and others involved in those hearings, the Courts Service has hired Croke Park for the hearing of some trials.

Sources say the six trials listed for Monday before the Central Criminal Court are not expected to get a hearing for reasons including that judges assigned to the criminal courts are still at hearing in other trials and because the vacancy in that list resulting from the retirement of Mr Justice Michael White has not yet been filled.

The six cases include one concerning a rape allegation made in 2019. A source said there is a “small hope” one of the six might yet be allocated a judge on Monday and, depending on the availability of other judges in the criminal list, some of the other cases might open for hearing later in the week.