Man faces fourth trial on rape charges after court ruling

A man can be tried for the fourth time on multiple charges of rape and sexual assault, a judge has ruled.

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denies 14 counts of raping and sexually assaulting a woman during the late 1960s and 1970s.

He was tried before the Central Criminal Court in 2012, when the jury disagreed on a verdict. He was retried a year later but that trial ended after the presiding judge discharged the jury.

A jury was empanelled for a third trial in 2014 but that trial was also abandoned after an issue arose concerning the disclosure of certain documents by the prosecution.

A date was fixed for a fourth trial but the man brought judicial review proceedings aimed at preventing that trial proceeding.

It was argued a fourth trial amounted to a breach of the man’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Full disclosure

It was further argued, due to an alleged failure by the State to make full disclosure, which resulted in the collapse of his trial, the man had lost faith in the process.

The DPP opposed the proceedings and argued the man suffered no unfairness in being tried for a fourth time.

Ms Justice Marie Baker, in a judgment on Friday, dismissed the man's claim on all grounds.

The man had failed to make out a case for prohibition of his trial, bearing in mind the exceptional nature of the remedy of prohibition, she said.

The man had not shown any individual and exceptional distress or anxiety arising form his further prosecution, the judge said. While the trial may not be a straightforward matter, his constitutional right to a fair trial would be dealt with and protected by the presiding judge at a jury trial.

Issues of concern relating to the passage of time since the alleged offences are matters a trial judge must and will deal with in their final charge to the jury, the judge added.