FORMER NUN Nora Wall has brought a High Court challenge to the alleged refusal of the State to make a decision on her claim for compensation over a miscarriage of justice in her case.
Ms Wall was found by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2005 to have been wrongfully convicted of the rape and indecent assault of a girl in a care home in Waterford about 20 years ago.
Her case was also declared a miscarriage of justice by the court on the grounds of newly discovered facts and this automatically entitled her to apply for compensation to the Minister or bring an action for damages.
She was given leave yesterday to bring a judicial review challenge to the alleged refusal by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to make a decision on her application for compensation under Section 9 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1993.
Luán Ó Braonáin SC, for Ms Wall, told the court yesterday that the Minister had acknowledged that the matter was to be dealt with under Section 9 but had failed to act.
The Act also provides that where a person is not satisfied with the amount of compensation granted by the Minister, they may still apply to the High Court for a final decision on the amount to be paid, counsel said.
Yesterday Mr Justice Michael Peart gave Ms Wall’s lawyers permission to seek a judicial review and returned the case to the High Court for further directions later this month.
Ms Wall had her conviction for the rape of a 12-year-old girl quashed in July 1999 after it emerged that a crucial witness, Patricia Whelan, had admitted she had lied.
In 2005, the Court of Criminal Appeal declared a miscarriage of justice after hearing a “forensic debacle” had led to her conviction.
The DPP said that had he been aware of significant information which had come to light, the prosecution against Ms Wall and a now deceased homeless man, Paul McCabe, for the alleged rape of the girl would never have been brought.