Judgement reserved in Boggans bid to set aside €1.9m drugs conviction

He was found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment by Judge Patrick McCartan on June 24, 2013.

Boggans moved to appeal his conviction today on grounds involving the warrant used to enter the premises and fairness of the trial.

Peter Finlay SC, for Boggans, submitted that the Garda Superintendent who issued the warrant was intimately involved in the investigation of the alleged offence.

Mr Finlay cited a Supreme Court ruling known as Damache, which he submitted found that the person who issues a warrant must be independent in order to adjudicate on the conflicting rights of citizens and State agents.

Secondly, Mr Finlay said the search operation concluded at 8.55pm but the warrant was issued at 9pm, "therefore the search itself was unlawful".

Finally, Mr Finlay said the warrant must be issued to a named member of An Garda Síochána and it is that named person who is required to enter on foot of the warrant.

However in this case, Mr Finlay submitted, the warrant was issued to a garda who arrived at the scene after other members had entered the premises.

Mr Finlay further submitted that the principle issue in terms of fairness related to his cross examination of a garda who testified that he saw Boggans run across the Mercedes van in which the drugs were found.

There was CCTV evidence seen by the jury but the trial judge refused to replay the footage for cross examination purposes, Mr Finlay submitted, for no other reason than “people can rely on their memories”.

He said there was incomplete disclosure of the CCTV evidence which was sought before and during the trial.

Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Conor Devally SC, said the Damache Supreme Court ruling did not cover situations of urgency “which I say pertained here”.

The ruling also covered entry into the dwelling but gardaí had entered and arrested Boggans on a commercial premises, the owner of which had no objection to what the gardaí were doing.

Mr Devally said the timing of the search was not questioned during the trial. The warrant was now being represented, according to a clock on a video, as having being issued after the raid, he said.

On the third point, Mr Devally said “an absurdity” was being proposed.

There may have been a problem if the garda to whom the warrant was issued was in an office in a garda station in Dublin but he was sitting in a squad car down the road.

He told the Court that the raid took place in a public area not belonging to Boggans.

A van was said to possibly contain a huge amount of drugs and Boggans was suspected of being connected to it.

On entry by gardaí to the yard, Mr Devally said, people dispersed “like mice".

He said the proposition submitted by Boggans' barrister was that gardaí cannot stop people running away unless they already know they have enough to stop them. It was an absurdity, he said, “they have to check them out”.

On the issue of CCTV footage, Mr Devally said proper disclosure was made and every piece of relevant evidence which had the capacity to be relevant was disclosed. It only appeared to be an issue now, he said.

He added that one could not see the Mercedes van containing the drugs in the footage, it simply was not possible.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Seán Ryan, who sat with Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the court would reserve judgment to a date in February.