Tag Archives: Court of Appeal.

AN appeal over a failed challenge to the Yes vote in the same sex marriage referendum will get an early hearing, the Court of Appeal heard. Gerry Walshe, of Lisdeen, Kilkee wants to appeal last week’s refusal by the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, of his application to to bring a petition challenging the May 22 referendum result. He is seeking a stay restraining the issuing of the necessary certificate verifying the referendum result. Mr Justice Peter Kelly, dealing with Mr Walshe’s application on Friday, said papers in the case must be ready in two weeks when the court will give him a date for a hearing. The judge said it was an urgent matter and needed to be dealt with soon. Mr Walshe, representing himself, claims the decision is flawed on a number of grounds including that expenditure by the Government on the Yes campaign was not done openly and transparently and in accordance with …

A Kilkee man’s application for a stay restraining the issuing of a certificate verifying the result of the same sex marriage referendum will come before the Court of Appeal this Thursday. The application for the stay was made on Tuesday by Mr Gerry Walshe, an electrician from Lisdeen, who is appealing last week’s decision by High Court President Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns to refuse Mr Walshe permission to bring a petition challenging the May 22 referendum result. Yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon at the Court of Appeal, Mr Walshe told Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geogeghan that he is appealing the High Court’s decision. As part of that appeal he wants the Appeal Court to grant a stay on the certificate verifying last month’s result from being issued. However, Mr Walshe, who is representing himself in the action, accepted that he had not yet been able to formally lodge his appeal. The judge told Mr Walshe that if he wished to have his application …

FORMER primary school principal, 81-year-old, Patrick Barry from Kilkee has moved to appeal his prison sentence for indecently assaulting 11 women while they were pupils of his in West Clare. Barry lost an appeal against conviction last week with the Court of Appeal “unable to hold” with him on any of his 12 grounds of appeal. He had pleaded not guilty to 67 charges of indecently assaulting 11 women on dates between 1964 and 1985, while they attended Moyasta National School as pupils. He was found guilty by a jury of 59 counts of indecent assault and not guilty of the remaining eight counts by direction of the trial judge Judge Gerald Keyes. Barry was given an afective sentence of 11 years imprisonment with the final five suspended by Judge Keyes at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on November 19 2014. Speaking on behalf of the Court of Appeal on Monday, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said the three judge court was …

A BAREFIELD man jailed for life for the murder of a young man over three years ago has moved to appeal his conviction, claiming the prosecution ought to have proved that he did not have diminished responsibility at the time. Joe Heffernan (aged 35), of Cappagh Beg, Barefield pleaded not guilty to the murder of Eoin Ryan (21) at Cappagh Beg on June 7, 2011. He was found guilty by a jury at the Central Criminal Court and was given the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy on July 3, 2013. During the trial two 999 calls were played to the jury, who were also given transcripts of the calls. “Hello. This is Joe Heffernan. I’m after killing a man,” the caller told Garda Claire O’Shaughnessy, who identified her voice on the first recording. “He came onto me and I killed him. I’m not gay or nothing you know,” he said. “I’m going to kill myself. I’m not …

An Ennis man, who carried out unprovoked attack on a woman in her home, has been sentenced to two years in in prison following a finding by the Court of Appeal that his wholly suspended three year sentence was“unduly lenient”. Alan Kilmartin (35), of Davitt Terrace, Cloughleigh, pleaded guilty at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to a woman at an estate on the Lahinch Road, Ennis on March 2 2012. He was given a wholly suspended three year prison sentence, suspended for five years on conditions, by Judge Carroll Moran on November 25 2013. The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully argued in the Court of Appeal last month that Kilmartin’s sentence was unduly lenient. President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice Seán Ryan said on Monday that there were undoubtedly mitigating features in favour of Kilmartin but they did not “obliterate the seriousness of the crimes”, their severity and their impact on the vicitm. Mr Justice Ryan …

A 71-year-old man has been returned to prison for one year following a finding by the Court of Appeal that his two-year prison sentence for indecently assaulting two boys in the 1980s was too lenient. However, in its decision delivered today (Tuesday), the court found that the maximum penalty for indecently assaulting a male in the 1980s was two years in prison and not 10, as had been suggested. James (Tony) Maher of Clonroad Beg, Ennis, had pleaded guilty to 18 sample counts of indecently assaulting two boys in the county between January 1982 and April 1985. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment on each count to run concurrently by Judge Carroll Moran at Ennis Circuit Criminal Court on January 14 2013. The Director of Public Prosecutions successfully applied for a review of Maher’s sentence on grounds that it was unduly lenient. The Court of Appeal agreed and increased Maher’s sentence by one year. President of the Court of …

A Clare man who sexually assaulted his younger cousin over a three year period and raped her has had his six year jail term reduced to four by the Court of Appeal. The 27-year-old man, who cannot be identified to protect the victim’s identity, pleaded guilty to one count of rape, four counts of sexual assault and four counts of oral rape on dates between 2003 and 2005. He was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, with the final three years suspended ,by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court on June 4 2013. The Court of Appeal agreed on Tuesday with the man’s barrister, Paul Greene SC, that the sentencing judge took too severe a view of the man’s offending. Consequently the court imposed a new sentence on him of seven years imprisonment with the final three suspended. Mr Justice John Edwards said offences of this type were heinous and there were a considerable number of them in this …

His Honour Judge Caroll Moran, who has presided over of the South Western Circuit Court for the past decade, is to become a High Court judge when a vacancy arises. The Government agreed in principle to nominate four serving judges of the Circuit Court, for appointment by the President, to fill four of the seven vacancies that will arise on the High Court once serving judges are appointed to the new Court of Appeal. The other judges in line for High Court appointments  are Honour Judge Mary Faherty, His Honour Judge Raymond Fullam and Her Honour Judge Carmel Stewart. Judge Carroll Moran was educated at University College Dublin and enrolled as a solicitor in1970. He was called to the Bar in 1975. With wide experience as a solicitor and barrister, in both civil and criminal law, Judge Moran was editor of the Irish Reports from 1993 to 1997 He was appointed as a judge of the circuit court in 1997, …