Rape trials being adjourned by up to two years
The adjournment of rape and murder trials at the Central Criminal Court for perhaps up to two years when there are no judges available has again being highlighted by Mr Justice Paul Carney.
Mr Justice Carney made his comments after adjourning a rape case involving two accused to the next session in June for fixing trial dates. He had been told the case would last eight days.
He said that the "pain and suffering" of victims and relatives in these cases which could not be dealt with on the designated dates was "beyond comprehension".
Mr Justice Carney said there was a delay of 16 months "and rising" in getting serious sex assault and murder cases listed for trial hearing
"The victims and relatives have generally waited 16 months for their case to get on and when there is no judge and court availale to deal with it on that date it goes back for at least another 16 months", he said.
Mr Justice Carney said,during the April listings sessions it was "highly unsatisfactory" to have such long delays as now existed and that he was "substantially the only full-time High Court judge dealing with the criminal trials."
He said the situation would not change until a sufficient number of judges were appointed to remedy the present "serious inadequacy" in the number available.
Mr Justice Carney set dates at the April session up to December 2003 for 19 rape and 11 murder trials. Some 70% of the trials pending in the Central Criminal Court are for alleged serious sex offences and at some listing sessions they have accounted for more than 75% of the cases.
Defence counsel in one rape case which couldn’t get on recently told Mr Justice Carney his client was under "enormous stress" due to his case having failed to get on previously three times and he asked for "some possible priority" in seeking an early trial date.
Counsel for other accused repeated this request in their cases then and in more recent hearings and Mr Justice Carney has replied that the same could be said in most of the cases that came before the court for listing.
Mr Justice Carney told the counsel that despite having a ‘no adjournment’ rule, he had no choice in the matter but to put their cases back when he had no judge available to take them.
