THE IRISH Timesand the Irish Examinerhave been ordered to pay the costs of the collapsed trial of Paschal Carmody, accused of obtaining money by deception from the families of terminally ill cancer patients.
The final form of the order has been adjourned until the costs are formally assessed and to allow for submissions on the allocation of the costs between the two newspapers, based on their circulation.
The trial of the former Clare GP in Ennis Circuit Court collapsed on April 27th after Judge Donagh McDonagh deemed articles that appeared in the two national newspapers presented a potential risk of Dr Carmody not getting a fair trial. The material concerned part of the proceedings conducted in the absence of the jury.
Dr Carmody had pleaded not guilty to nine charges of obtaining more than €16,000 by deception or under false pretences from the families of two terminally ill patients under the pretence that he could cure their cancer.
This was his second trial on such charges. In 2008 a jury found Dr Carmody not guilty on six charges of deception and it failed to reach a verdict on the remaining 11 charges. Following the collapse of the second trail, Judge McDonagh found The Irish Times and the Irish Examiner guilty of “technical contempt” for reporting matters heard in the absence of the jury.
On April 28th, Andrew O'Rorke of Hayes Solicitors, for The Irish Times, had apologised "sincerely, openly and unreservedly" on behalf of the newspaper for a "very serious accident" and an "unfortunate error" that had occurred unintentionally and which was not in any way intended to interfere with the court proceedings.
Mr O’Rorke had explained that the reporter who had covered the case for a number of newspapers since it began had experienced a serious family illness and subsequent bereavement and had asked an experienced freelance journalist to cover the proceedings for him, which he did as a favour on a professional basis.
Judge McDonagh accepted the newspapers had purged their contempt by apologising for the publication.
He later heard applications for the costs of the aborted trial against the newspapers.
Delivering his decision in the Circuit Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday, he said the issue of costs was a very live one. According to the written submissions made to him, the DPP had incurred costs of over €121,000, Dr Carmody between €300,000 and €400,000 and the Courts Service over €21,000 in providing a registrar and jury costs.
There were a number of novel features in the case, including the fact that the collapse of the trial was entirely due to the actions of third parties. It was clear the two parties had caused the collapse. This had caused a loss to three parties – the DPP, Dr Carmody and the Courts Service.
There was no issue of freedom of speech, as it had been accepted by solicitors for the two parties that there were conventions for not reporting what was said in the absence of the jury.
Those who incurred the loss were entitled to compensation. For example, Dr Carmody had indicated he had expended a considerable amount of his own money, which was now wasted. “It seems it would be fundamentally unfair to say this is a loss he now has to bear,” Judge McDonagh said. The same applied to the DPP and the Courts Service.
Therefore he ruled that the newspapers should be joined as notice parties in the case for the purpose of making a costs order against them and a compensation order should be made.
The amount should be split between the two newspapers on the basis of their circulation, which would mean 55 per cent for The Irish Times and 45 per cent for the Irish Examiner.He would hear them on their circulation.
He also said that the order should be made on the basis of certainty with regard to the amount of the costs, which therefore should be taxed. The matter was adjourned until the first day of criminal sittings in Ennis next law term.
Referring to the issue of the contempt, he said he would impose a nominal fine on each newspaper of €2,500.