Justice Dept implicated in Molloy fiasco
A Department of Justice official asked Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan if he would take a phonecall at home from Bobby Molloy concerning the Naughton rape case, the judge said today.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan said at a special hearing of the Central Criminal Court his recollection was that he received this call "from a gentleman in the Department of Justice at the end of the day" and it was from him the request came asking if he could be called at home by Mr Molloy.
He said he replied : "Certainly not".
Mr Justice O'Sullivan said he had asked for the hearing so that he could "reread for clarification" what he said at the Naughton sentence hearing on Tuesday and he wanted to make it clear that a second female caller on behalf of Mr Molloy had NOT asked if he would take a call at home.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan recalled that at the start of the Naughton sentence hearing he had been asked by defence counsel Mr Patrick J McCarthy SC if he had seen "an affidavit" from Naughton's sister.
He told the court he had not seen any such affidavit and went on to say he thought Mr McCarthy's request might have been linked to the phonecalls he had received.
He said he had received two separate phonecalls on the issue. The first one was from the male caller who said he was a Department of Justice official and the second some time later in his chambers from the female who asked if he had received a communication from the convicted man's sister.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan said he terminated this second call immediately.
At the sentence hearing, Mr Justice O'Sullivan said he had received two envelopes addressed to him which he had not opened.
He told counsel for the prosecution, Mr Patrick Gageby SC and Mr McCarthy he was quite open that they be made available to counsel if they wished to know the contents.
Mr Gageby submitted that the envelopes should be returned to the sender and they were handed to the defence solicitor who gave them to a person in the public gallery.
Mr Justice O'Sullivan also asked Mr Gageby, at the special hearing, if the Director of Public Prosecutions had any view on the identification in the media of Patrick Naughton (aged 49) of Cinn Mhara, Camus, Co Galway as the convicted man he jailed for 11 years.
Mr Gageby replied he had no instructions at this time on that issue and would report back to the judge after consulting the DPP.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Justice Minister John O’Donoghue said he knows "absolutely nothing" about the alleged intervention by his department and has ordered an internal investigation to discover who, if anyone, made the improper approach.
The spokesman stressed that the minister did not order the alleged intervention.
