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The Police Service of Northern Ireland has spoken to the juror at the centre of an investigation by the North's Attorney General into online comments made following the Belfast rugby rape trial.
Following the conclusion of the trial last week, remarks a juror in the trial made in the comments section of an article on Broadsheet.ie about the acquittals of Ireland rugby internationals Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding were referred to attorney general John Larkin QC's office. He is examining if the comments constitute contempt of court. The trial judge had ordered that jurors should not discuss their deliberations.
The juror subsequently took down the comments and on March 30th the juror wrote on the Broadsheet website where the original comments appeared: "I had lovely chat with a couple of constables of the PSNI, just then (22.00pm) who informed me that it's now a civil case. Phew!"
However, Belfast-based solicitor John Finucane of Finucane Toner Solicitors said while contempt of court can be dealt with in both a civil and criminal context in Northern Ireland, it is very unlikely that an allegation of contempt concerning a criminal case would be dealt with as a civil matter.
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“Civil contempt would normally be attached to ongoing civil proceedings which does not appear to be the case in this instance,” he said.
“It would be very unlikely this would be dealt with in a civil way.
“The contempt of court act talks about the responsibilities juries have and that continues after the conclusion of criminal proceedings.
“It would therefore seem unusual if this case was dealt with in a civil way.
“Given what has been alleged it would be more likely this would be dealt with in a criminal context.
“I don’t see how allegations of a juror in a criminal case talking about the case could be dealt with in a civil context.”
Social media
Explaining the rules governing contempt in the courts in the Republic, Dublin-based solicitor Michael Finucane of Michael Finucane Solicitors said: “In Ireland contempt of court is, depending on the level of jurisdiction, essentially the court exercising its own authority to protect its own independence and processes.
“It takes various forms depending on the contempt involved. For example people have refused to obey a witness summons to turn up in court in serious cases of violent crime where they have claimed to be in fear.
“There the High Court generally affords representation by way of legal aid if they can’t afford to pay for it themselves but the person does not have all of the other procedural protections that an accused person would normally be entitled to.
“This has been examined by the Supreme Court and it has been described as the High Court exercising its criminal jurisdiction.
“In Ireland for the time being contempt of court remains a common law offence without a statutory basis.”
Mr Finucane also said this was becoming an increasing problem in the age of social media if people do not know that a court order exists.
Last Friday, a PSNI spokesman said it received a call from a member of the public. “Police attended and spoke to the individual. There are no further details.”
On Wednesday, a statement from the Attorney General’s Office said: “The Attorney General’s investigation into the online comments is still currently ongoing.”
There is no set timescale for how long the investigation will last.
Contempt of court is a “sui generis” matter meaning it is unique, not really criminal or civil.
Sanctions for contempt of court can include a fine of up to £2,500.