Former teacher loses bid to stop trial

A former teacher at a Dublin secondary school has lost a Supreme Court attempt to prevent his trial on charges of indecent assault…

A former teacher at a Dublin secondary school has lost a Supreme Court attempt to prevent his trial on charges of indecent assault and gross indecency against a male student in the 1980s.

The offences of indecent assault allegedly occurred between November 1st, 1985, and December 31st, 1985, and the offences of gross indecency between September 1st, 1986, and March 31st, 1988.

At the time the teacher was in his 40s and the alleged victim was aged between 14 and 17. The offences are alleged to have occurred in the teacher's home, in the school and in the teacher's car in the Dublin mountains.

The teacher was charged in November 1999 and brought proceedings aimed at preventing his trial on grounds of delay between the alleged commission of the offences and the date of trial. The High Court refused an order prohibiting the trial and yesterday the three-judge Supreme Court upheld that refusal. Mr Justice Hardiman dissented from the majority view that the trial on charges of indecent assault should go ahead.

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In her judgment, with which Mrs Justice Denham agreed, Mrs Justice McGuinness said it appeared the applicant had made a statement to gardaí admitting consensual sexual involvement with the complainant from when the latter was almost 17 until about 1990, but denied any sexual activity with him when he was under 15. The applicant had also said he gave money to the boy over a number of years and the latter had given letters and cheques to gardaí in relation to that.

Mr Justice Hardiman said the question of consent was central to an allegation of indecent assault on a person over the age of 15 and the documents exhibited showed vagueness on times and dates. He believed there was a real risk of an unfair trial on the indecent assault charges.