GANGLAND CRIMINALS are increasingly undermining the legal system and must face no-jury trials before the Special Criminal Court to stop the intimidation of jurors, Cabinet Ministers have told the Dáil.
Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea said that the “brazenness and bravado” of the Limerick gangs is now such that “they now seriously believe they have won and that they hold the entire city and region to ransom”.
The Law Society described as “wrong and dangerous” the speed with which the Bill is being rushed through the Oireachtas. It asked that its enactment be deferred to October to permit a proper debate. They were supported by the human rights group Amnesty International.
Under the legislation, set to be law within a fortnight, the Director of Public Prosecutions will get one-year, renewable powers to send gangland trials to the no-jury court.
Conviction for gang membership can result in a 15-year jail sentence, regardless of whether another crime or offence is committed, or whether an individual had knowledge of offences that were committed.
Under the proposed legislation, major gangland trials would be automatically sent to the Special Criminal Court unless the DPP is satisfied that “the ordinary courts are adequate” to deal with it. The powers would have to be renewed by the Oireachtas to continue beyond 2010, the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill outlines.
Gangland criminals have shown a “complete disregard” for the rule of law and are determined to “intimidate whole communities” by creating “a climate of fear”, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said.
Before Roy Collins’s murder in Limerick, he said he had resisted calls for sterner legislation, “but now we cannot stand by and let our criminal justice system be undermined”.
The Limerick State Solicitor Michael Murray last week confirmed that juries have been intimidated and that many in the city will not serve on juries in gangland trials.
The State can protect juries, he acknowledged, but the measures are not enough: “These gangs have sophisticated networks capable of identifying those they perceive as thwarting their activities.”
Mr Ahern said Attorney General Paul Gallagher believed the legislation complies with the Constitution.
Blaming fear among potential Limerick jurors, Mr O’Dea said eight times more people had to be called this year to fill jury spaces there than in 2000 because of “no-shows” and “drop-outs”. He said he was disappointed by the Irish Human Rights Commission’s opposition and was “incredulous” that Labour had accepted its view that there is no evidence of jury-tampering.
“If someone serves on a jury and the criminals get to him – there are some cases of this happening with which I am familiar – he is hardly going to advertise that fact,” he said. “Jury intimidation in Limerick is now so widespread and all-pervasive that it is now virtually taken for granted that if the State attempts to hold any gangland-type trial in Limerick, potential jurors will feel intimidated and it will not be possible to form a jury.”
The legislation is due to pass its final stage in the Dáil next Friday and be debated by the Seanad on the following Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to President Mary McAleese for signature.
Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan said Mr Ahern had been “a lethargic legislator” but was now “railroading” six major laws through within days. Labour TD Pat Rabbitte questioned whether TDs, gardaí and judges “really believed” that “the ordinary courts are inadequate” to administer justice and preserve peace.