Councillor wins appeal against fraud charge
Galway Co Councillor Michael 'Stroke' Fahy walked free from the Four Courts today after the Court of Criminal Appeal set aside his conviction for fraud and attempted theft and ordered that a retrial take place.
Today the three-judge CCA of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, presiding with Mr Justice Kevin Feeney, and Ms Justice Mary Irvine, said that the court was "quite satisfied" to set aside the conviction because of the "introduction of inadmissible evidence in the manner which it occurred created a real and substantial risk of an unfair trial."
It is thought that the case will be returned to Galway Circuit Criminal Court where it will be listed for trial.
After the verdict was delivered, supporters of Galway Councillor expressed their delight with the decision.
Former Junior Minister and current FF senator Terry Leyden, who was at the court, said he was happy with the outcome.
Cllr Fahy, he said, would be able to return home to his elderly mother, and he looked forward to seeing Cllr Fahy resume his role as a public representative.
Last March at Galway Circuit Criminal Court, Cllr Fahy, aged 56, Ardrahan, Co Galway was jailed for a total of twelve months and fined €75,000 after a jury found him guilty of seven charges brought under the Larceny and Theft and Fraud Offences Acts.
The charges related to more than a mile of fencing that had been erected on Cllr Fahy's land following a Community Involvement Scheme operated by the Co Council.
The sentence was imposed by Judge Raymond Groake, and Cllr Fahy started his prison sentence at the end of April.
He appealed his conviction on the grounds that certain prosecution evidence should not have been put before the jury during his five-day trial.
Counsel for Cllr Fahy, Mr Martin Giblin, claimed that a memo made of a conversation between Cllr Fahy and Mr John Morgan, a senior executive with Galway Co Council who gave evidence during the trial for the prosecution, was prejudicial to Cllr Fahy, and was contrary to criminal procedures legislation.
The memo was not a contemporaneous note, was included as part of documentation furnished to the defence in advance of the trial.
However, the defence was told that it would not be part of the prosecution case and was not listed as an exhibit in the book of evidence until the morning of the trial itself.
It had taken the defence counsel 'by surprise' and in the circumstances the jury should have been discharged.
The DPP, in opposing the appeal, argued that the conviction should stand.
However the CCA found that Judge Groake had erred by allowing the trial to continue, and deemed that the evidence was prejudicial and in the circumstances the judge "ought to have discharged the jury."
In its judgment, the CCA said that what happened was as a result "of non-compliance by the prosecution" with the requirements of criminal procedures legislation.
Had a copy of the memo been exhibited in a timely manner as required by law, the court said, then it would have been possible for the defence to object to its inclusion.
Mr Justice Finnegan said that in the current climate, where there are "allegations of improper conduct" against politicians before tribunals, the jury could have drawn certain inferences from the memo.
In response to Mr Giblin SC, who questioned the decision to order a retrial given Cllr's Fahy's family circumstances, where he cares for his mother who is approaching 100 and the fact that a substantial part of the sentence has already been served, the court said a retrial was being ordered because it was "in the public interest" that the conduct of public representatives should be subject to examination.
Michael Fahy, who was released on bail, was first elected as a Fianna Fáil member of Galway County Council in 1979, but he resigned from the party in 2004.
