THE NUMBER of murder and rape cases appearing before the courts increased last year, while drug, assault and sexual offence cases rose dramatically in the District Court, according to the Courts Service annual report.
The document, published yesterday, shows the Central Criminal Court received 51 new murder cases last year, up from 39 in 2007, while the number of rape cases increased from 73 to 78 over the same period.
The figures are the highest since 2002, when there were 55 murder and 82 rape cases.
Of the 24 murder cases that went to trial, two defendants were found not guilty by way of insanity, three were acquitted and 19 were convicted.
Some 27 rape cases went to trial, 12 of which resulted in a conviction and 15 in an acquittal.
The report indicates that trials are taking longer in both the Circuit Criminal Court and the Central Criminal Court. In 2007, the average murder trial lasted 8.3 days, but last year the average duration was 10 days. The average duration of a rape trial last year was just over five days.
Statistics from the District Court show significant increases under a range of criminal headings. There was a 390 per cent rise in sexual offence cases, while drug offences rose by 58 per cent and public order and assault cases by 92 per cent.
Some 60 per cent of all criminal cases in the District Court related to road traffic offences, but there were reductions in cases relating to drink (down 7 per cent), dangerous driving (down 14 per cent) and stealing vehicles (down 35 per cent).
Appeals by the Director of Public Prosecutions against leniency of sentence continued to increase in 2008. The Court of Criminal Appeal dealt with 47 such appeals, compared to 42 in 2007, and the original sentence was quashed and a new sentence imposed in lieu in 63 per cent of all DPP appeals.
Meanwhile, the number of criminal cases involving children was 3,180 last year, a rise of 13 per cent in the year and a 33 per cent increase over two years.
A total of 708 children were given a detention order, up by 32 per cent on 2007.
Statistics for the Special Criminal Court show there were 10 trials involving 22 people last year, resulting in 16 convictions and six being struck out or acquitted.
On family law matters, the Courts Service report showed no significant change in the divorce figures, with a 3 per cent increase (to 4,214 divorces) broadly in line with the trend over recent years.
However, separation cases rose 15 per cent, to 1,966, with more than 70 per cent of separations initiated by the wife.
In 2008, there were 10,401 domestic violence applications to the District Court, a fall of 8 per cent on the previous year. Protection order applications fell by 11 per cent, safety order applications by 6 per cent and barring order applications by 8 per cent.
Some 66 per cent of maintenance orders in the District Court were made in favour of unmarried applicants, while there was a 25 per cent rise in applications by unmarried fathers for guardianship of children.
Courts in figures
40%Drop in hotel licence applications to Circuit Court
106%Increase in applications to High Court relating to solicitors conduct
11%Rise in number of small claims. Claims involving dry cleaners rose by almost 100 per cent
15%Rise in separations
7%Increase in number of new rape cases in the Central Criminal Court
390% Increase in sexual offences before the District Court
25%Increase in applications by unmarried fathers for guardianship of children
8%Decrease in domestic violence applications to District Court
Source: Courts Service annual report 2008
