A High Court judge has today fined Independent Newspapers €25,000 for contempt of court following the publication by the Evening Heraldof a story and photographs relating to a serious assault in Grafton St.
Mr Justice John Quirke said the newspaper admitted breaching the sub judice rule by publishing the material after two men had been charged with criminal offences relating to the assault.
Breaches of the sub judice rule can and do compromise the rights of all citizens to a fair and expeditious trial and of the community to have offences prosecuted, the judge said.
While he accepted the apology of Independent Newspapers and accepted that the breach was not intentional, he said he had to impose a sanction.
Independent Newspapers has a duty to ensure that its reporting was lawful, in this case it was not, and the appropriate sanction was a fine of €25,000.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had brought the contempt proceedings after the Evening Heraldon March 25th, 2004 published an article headlined "Tennis Ace Faces Assault Charge" and another article headlined "Savage Attack on Victim Captured by CCTV Camera."
Paul Anthony Mc Dermott, for the DPP, said the Heraldhad also published three still photos taken from a CCTV camera showing the victim of an assault in the Grafton St/Lemon St area on April 13th, 2003.
Mr Mc Dermott said two men, former Irish tennis international Stephen Nugent and Dermot Cooper, were charged with offences relating to the assault on March 24th, 2004, the day before the Heraldarticles were published.
Counsel said the Evening Heraldhad obtained the CCTV photos from a security officer who has since been dismissed. The photos were obtained by the newspaper before they were given to the gardai and were later exhibits in the book of evidence.
Mr Mc Dermott said the trial of the two men has since been dealt with and the DPP accepted that the newspaper had not intentionally breached the sub judice rule.
Shane Murphy SC , for Independent Newspapers, said his clients accepted they had violated the sub judice rule and wanted to apologise unreservedly to the court.
In mitigation, he said, the trial of Mr Nugent and Mr Cooper did not take place until June 2005 and there had been no imminent trial when the offending articles were published.