A man who was jailed last October for abducting and assaulting an American woman in 1999 was freed on his own bail yesterday by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
Mr Justice Hardiman said the court was disturbed at the possibility that the trial of Barry Fitzgerald (31) formerly of Dalkey, with an address at Martello Road, Sandycove, went on without his lawyers having a reasonable opportunity of obtaining information in relation to the alleged victim.
Ms Elizabeth Gallucci, from Boston, had told a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury last July that she jumped from Fitzgerald's car as it slowed down in the Dublin mountains on July 29th, 1999.
Ms Gallucci met Fitzgerald in a pub in Dublin's Temple Bar and they went to a club together. He offered her a lift home but instead took her to his home in Dalkey where he made a lunge for her. She wanted to get a taxi to her hotel in the city but he said he would drive her back. Fitzgerald claimed he took the route through the mountains to avoid Garda checkpoints as he was fearful of being caught drink-driving.
Fitzgerald applied to the Court of Criminal Appeal for bail pending the hearing of his application for leave to appeal against his conviction.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for Fitzgerald, said the State ought to have given Ms Gallucci's address to his client's lawyers but had not.
Mr Justice Hardiman said the State's solicitor had told Fitzgerald's solicitor that Ms Gallucci had moved to New York. He appreciated State counsel had been under a misapprehension.
Mr Justice Hardiman said the defence had been under the impression that Ms Gallucci had moved to New York and it was not until much later they discovered she had not. The court had also seen an affidavit from a private investigator in the US which provided certain information about Ms Gallucci about which at this stage it was impossible to express a view.
The court was satisfied it contained information which might be of use in defending such allegations, information about certain legal proceedings in which Ms Gallucci was allegedly involved and the allegation of theft made by her in circumstances which a defence solicitor might wish to investigate.