Shortt compensation judgment further adjourned

The judgment expected today in a compensation case brought by a nightclub owner wrongfully jailed on a drugs conviction has been…

The judgment expected today in a compensation case brought by a nightclub owner wrongfully jailed on a drugs conviction has been adjourned.

Frank Shortt, owner of the Point Inn nightclub at Inishowen, Co Donegal, is suing the State after spending three years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

Today the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, reserved judgment to consider the matter further.

He said: "This is the first case of this nature and raises a significant number of issues in the assessment of damages."

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Mr Shortt of Redcastle, Co Donegal, was convicted in 1995 for knowingly allowing drugs to be sold on his premises but in 2000 the conviction was overturned with no objection from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The father-of-five secured a certificate stating that there had been a miscarriage of justice and subsequently sued for compensation. He is suing the Government and the Garda Commissioner for several million euro under a number of headings.

Former superintendent Kevin Lennon was among officers suspended from An Garda Síochána in 2002 after the Court of Criminal Appeal found he and other officers had changed and suppressed trial notes, leading to the miscarriage of justice.

The court ruled that the miscarriage was on grounds of newly discovered facts - the deliberate suppression of material by two gardaí, Det Garda Noel McMahon and Supt Kevin Lennon.

Mr Justice Finnegan apologised that the judgment wasn't ready. However, he said two issues were troubling him and he may need further input from lawyers involved in the case. Judgment is now expected at the end of June.

At the opening of the case last October, counsel for Mr Shortt said he was effectively a destroyed person, internally to himself and externally to the community.

Mr Eoin McGonigal SC said Mr Shortt's family were referred to as the family of "that bastard Frank Shortt, the drug dealer" and were all shunned in the local community in Co Donegal.

He said Mr Shortt had served 27 months in prison of a three year sentence, including some months in "inhuman" conditions. He had sought temporary release on 14 occasions but only secured it once.

When he was released, he was euphoric initially but quickly became depressed, counsel said. He was aged 62 and had no income or business.

He realised the destruction that had happened to his life and family but still believed that justice would right the wrongs done.