A man whose wife died in a road accident has brought a High Court claim for damages against the Director of Public Prosecutions and the State over the alleged failure to prosecute the driver of a mini-bus which collided with the car driven by his wife.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh yesterday rejected an application by Mr Aidan Brannigan (41), a farmer, of Annyalla, Co Monaghan, to see certain documents in the possession of the DPP. The judge upheld the DPP's claim that the documents were privileged.
Mr Brannigan is seeking damages and a declaration that the prosecution of the mini-bus driver is not statute-barred.
The action arises out of a road accident on December 4th, 1995. Ms Ann Brannigan sustained serious injuries when a mini-bus collided with her car on the Castleblayney-to-Monaghan road. Mr Brannigan alleges his wife's car was propelled onto the opposite carriageway and was struck by a car containing four students. She died on January 3rd, 1996.
Mr Brannigan said he understood prosecution of the mini-bus driver had been contemplated but that the prosecution was frustrated because it was not instituted within six months of the date of the offence.
The contention that a prosecution of the driver was frustrated by the time-lapse was contained in a letter from a private secretary from the Minister for Justice in March 1997. This stated that the DPP "examined the case and decided that no criminal proceedings be instituted as the statutory time period had elapsed". The letter added that it was wrongly believed that the accident occurred on December 14th and not December 4th, 1995.
The DPP and the State deny Mr Brannigan's claims. The DPP has pleaded that he was under no duty to commence a prosecution. It is also pleaded that the State does not owe a duty of care to Mr Brannigan or to the public at large as to whether to prosecute a person in respect of an alleged offence, as to the time within which such a prosecution should be brought, or as to the procedures applied by the DPP in reaching such a decision.
The DPP also pleads that, in the absence of bad faith, improper motive or improper policy, his decision was not justiciable or capable of review by the High Court.
The defence also plead that gardaí forwarded a file to the Monaghan State Solicitor on March 25th, 1996, and this was received in the DPP's office on April 15th. The State Solicitor's letter of April 12th stated the accident occurred on December 14th, and unfortunately this error was not picked up.
The DPP's office had proceeded on the basis that any prosecution would have to begin on or before June 13th, 1996. On June 12th a direction was issued on behalf of the DPP to prosecute the driver for careless driving. On June 13th, the State Solicitor informed the DPP's office that the proceedings had become statute-barred.