High Court ruling may lead to collapse in speeding cases
A High Court ruling may result in a number of speeding summonses being thrown out.
It has concluded that a man accused of speeding should have been served with a photograph of the alleged incident prior to his case coming before the District Court.
The case revolves around MMichael Gilvarry of Killala, Co Mayo, who is alleged to have been driving at 93 kilometres an hour in an 80km/hr zone in October 2011.
He was summonsed to court, but complications in the case led the District Court judge Mary Devins to seek legal direction from the High Court.
One key question was whether there was evidence gardaí had supplied Mr Gilvarry with a visual record – like a photograph of the alleged speeding offence - in advance of the court case.
This is required by statute but the High Court found the evidence only went so far as to say that it was "usual practice" for such a photograph to be attached to the summons.
The case has not been finalised, but there are a number of similar cases pending before the courts and the ruling could lead to them being dismissed.
