The Court of Criminal Appeal has directed that two men convicted of the sexual assault and false imprisonment of a woman in a van are to be freed on bail because the DPP was not ready to oppose their appeals against conviction.
The three-judge court, presided over by Mr Justice Keane, was strongly critical of the fact that the prosecution papers in the case were only made available to counsel for the DPP yesterday morning, when the appeal was listed to proceed.
The court directed that the original counsel for the DPP in the case appear before it today to explain the handling of the case.
Harpreet Singh (31), of River Forest, Leixlip, Co Kildare, and Fajinder Jethi (41), of Glenlyon Road, Knocklyon, were each given 20 months imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on December 14th after they were convicted of sexually assaulting, falsely imprisoning and assaulting a woman and causing her actual bodily harm, at an unknown place in Dublin after they gave her a lift in a van on July 12th, 1997.
Imposing sentence on each man, Judge Dominic Lynch said: "I realise I must be lenient in some way as the men stopped and drove the girl home when things were getting out of hand." He added the men's suggestion of paying compensation to the victim was out of the question.
Both men have appealed against the severity of sentence. The appeal was listed for hearing on July 7th and was ready to proceed but was not reached because of a packed list before the Court of Criminal Appeal on that date.
It was then relisted for yesterday. The original counsel for the DPP in the case informed the court last week he had difficulties about appearing yesterday because he was engaged in another serious trial.
In court yesterday, Mr Fergal Foley appeared for the DPP and said he had been asked last Friday to take on the case and had understood he would receive papers during the weekend and would use that time to read them. He had not, however, received the papers until just shortly before the court sat and was not in a position to proceed with the appeal.
Counsel for the defendant applied for bail in the circumstances. The court was told both men were Irish citizens and the Garda had their passports.
Mr Justice Keane, sitting with Ms Justice Carroll and Mr Justice Kelly, said the court had last week made clear the appeal would proceed yesterday. Now the court was told by Mr Foley he was given no papers or brief over the weekend and there was no explanation for this from the counsel who appeared for the DPP in the original trial.
The appeal was unable to proceed in the circumstances, the judge said. The two applicants were in custody and because their appeal could not be dealt with, they had to be admitted to bail.
This was quite appalling, Mr Justice Keane said, because it flowed from the failure of the original counsel for the DPP to ensure the DPP was represented by counsel properly instructed. The court would adjourn the appeal to the next list to fix dates on the basis of the applicants being admitted to bail.