The Gazette 1972

UNREPORTED IRISH CASES

Firm loses claim lor damages An action by Irish Paper Sacks Ltd., Ballymount Road, Dublin, against John Sisk and Son (Dublin) Ltd, Wilton Works, Naas Road, Dublin, for £1,183 damages arising from the closure of a paper sack factory because of a break in an underground cable supplying power to the factory was dismissed by the President of the High Court, Mr. Justice O'Keeffe. It had been alleged by the plaintiffs that Mezsrs. Sisk damaged the cable when laying a concrete access road to the industrial site at Ballymount Road. The factory was left without power for 40 hours from about 3.10 p.m. on November 23, 1970, to 7.25 a.m. on November 25, and it had to close down. They listed their loss as £270 for labour, £650 for overheads and £263 profit. The President, in his reserved judgment, said that the principle to be derived from the authorties put forward by the defence was that the plantiff, suing for damages, suffered as a result of an act of omission of the defen- dant, could not recover as the act of omission did not directly injure the plaintiff's person or property, but merely caused consequential loss. The plaintiff had failed to establish that the injury to the cable had been caused by any act of the defendant and on this ground the defendant was entitled to succeed. JouraKst and editor fined for contempt of court Words likely to prejudice trial A fine of £100 was imposed in the H : gh Court in Dublin on Proinsias MacAonghusa, journalist and broadcaster, and fines of £50 each were imposed on Hibernia National 'Review Ltd and John Mulcahy, editor of Hibernia , for contempt of court. They had been brought before the court on a con- ditional order for attachment applied for by the Attorney General in relation ito an article published in Hibernia and written by Mr. MacAonghusa in the issue dated April 2nd-16th, 1971, concerning the custody of Patrick Francis Keane in Mountjoy Prison. Mr. Justice Pringle discharged conditional orders of attachment against all three in relation to another article by Mr. MacAonghusa in Hibernia in the issue of March 5th-18th, 1971, regarding the theft of guns from Drogheda Garda Station. In his article in the magazine on April 2nd-16th, Mr. MacAonghusa wrote: " Frank Keane is a political prisoner. But even if he were a criminal prisoner it would be outrageous that he should be tortured. So far, not one T.D. has queried the Minister for Justice in the Dail about this." Mr. Justice Pringle, in his reserved judgment, said: 44 After the most careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the statement that Keane was a political prisoner not only tended but was likely, in fact, to prejudice a juror or the public as to the nature of the proceedings." Conditions of detention already widely publicised He said that in regard to the penalty to be imposed he considered the nature of the periodical in which the

article appeared and the fact that the purpose of the article was to call attention to and protest against the conditions under which Keane was being detained pending trial. This had already been widely publicised in the daily papers and protested against publicly by a number of prominent citizens without any effect. Mr. Justice Pringle added: " I also take into account the fact that neither Mr. Mulcahy nor Mr. MacAonghus had any intention of interfering with the trial, and, in regard to Mr. Mulcahy, that he had stated that he would greatly regret if any action on his part were to have any such effect, and that his counsel had stated that, if he were held to have been in contempt, he apologised to the court." He said the order of the court would be that the cause shown would be disallowed and the conditional order made absolute. And he imposed the fines in lieu of orders for attachment. In default of payment of the fines within one month, orders for attachment would be issued. Earlier in his judgment, Mr. Justice Pringle said in regard to the contempt of court issue, he must ask himself whether the article would tend or be calculated to affect the mind of a juryman who had read this article and who was then empanelled to try Francis Keane. Statement declaring accused a political prisoner deemed contempt In regard to the allegations of torture, he thought he must take into account that such a juror might well have already read the statements in the daily papers on the allegations made by Mr. Seamus Sorohan, S.C., in the District Court, and that the juror might, therefore, have some sympathy for the accused man. 44 1 am inclined to think that any extra sympathy which might be engendered by reading the references in this article to torture would not be sufficient to consti- tute such an interference with the course of justice as to amount to contempt of court. 44 In regard, however, to the statement that Keane was a political prisoner, I am satisfied that this state- ment made by a responsible and well-known journalist who held himself out as knowing the facts would not only tend to prejudice a potential juror either in favour of the accused or against him, according to the political views of the juror, but would also tend to mislead him as to the nature of the trial." In his opinion this statement tended or was calculated to interfere with the course of justice and was a contempt of court. In a second judgment, Mr. Justice Pringle dealt with the application to make absolute orders of attachment relating to the article dealing with the theft of guns from Drogheda Garda Station. Accused states he was beaten up at instigation of Special Branch In the course of the article complained of by the Attorney General, Mr. MacAonghusa wrote: "Donn- chadh Mac Raghnaill the Drogheda school teacher, was beaten up at the instigation of Special Branch detectives. The detectives hoped that Mr. Mac Raghnaill would be terrified into telling his assailants the location 169