A judge has warned against delaying an appeal by a doctor found guilty of assaulting police officers while under the influence of a date rape drug.
Dr Eireann Kerr (32) appealing against her conviction and faces being struck off the medical register if it is upheld.
It was accepted during her trial that Dr Kerr’s drink had been spiked with the drug GHB, but the judge found her guilty of assault, resisting an officer and disorderly behaviour, and gave her a two-month conditional discharge.
The incident occurred after she attended a Christmas party with work colleagues in Derry in December 2013.
The district judge who convicted her at Derry Magistrates’ Court said he had no doubt her drink had been spiked, but explained involuntary intoxication was not a defence in law.
Derry appeal judge Philip Babington yesterday said "justice delayed is often justice denied."
Dr Kerr, of Marlborough Park South in Belfast, insists she has no memory of the events. A concerned Derry taxi driver had taken her to a police station, where she committed the offences.
She woke up in a police cell and upon release she went to hospital to get blood tests - an examination that found traces of date rape drug GHB.
The court heard that the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) had not yet received a letter from the defence stating what the grounds for appeal were.
Former olleagues said before the appeal that Dr Kerr’s career could be jeopardised by the conviction and have launched an online petition urging the PPS to drop the case at appeal. It has been signed by more than 7,000 people.
PA