The Gazette 1989

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1989

A Jft ^ F J J F INCORPORATED I L LAW SOCIETY M H / r I I L 0FIRELAND l ^ M M H I I Vol.83 No. 11 November I / 1 / L I

Viewpoint

383

The Company Auditor — Principles of Civil Liability President's Column SYS Autumn Seminar

385 391 393 394 395 398 401

Law Tech '89

Golf News

People & Places

Younger Members News Law relating to status of children born outside marriage and their property rights

Viewpoint In the welter of comment critical of the British Criminal Justice system f o l l owi ng the release of the Guildford Four there is an underlying assumption that " it could not happen here". The Irish Council for Civil Liberties have done well to draw public attention to the fact that not only could it but it did happen here, in the case of the DPP and Christopher Anthony Lynch. This is a horrifying example of how an innocent person could be con- victed largely on the basis of con- fessions made to the Gardai. There was in fact independent evidence to cast grave doubts on whether some of the statements contained in the confessions could in fact have been correct and indeed as to whether Mr. Lynch could have committed the murder. It must also be said that the position of a person suspected of a crime who is brought to a Garda Station for questioning has dis- imporved, rather than improved, since the Lynch case. Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 gives the Gardai power to detain a sus- pect for a possible maximum of 20 hours during which interrogation can be carried out. It has been suggested that corroborative evidence should be required to support confessions made by suspects in Garda custody. This may be taking the matter too far because there is a wide range of minor offences, particularly house breaking where an admission by the suspect is probably the only evidence that is ever going to link

402 409 411 413

that suspect with the particular crime. It may therefore be permiss- ible to allow confessions to minor offences to be sufficient grounds for conviction in the absence of any corroborative evidence. Where more serious offences are concerned there is clearly a danger on relying on the confessions alone. Much time is frequently spent in major criminal trials in arguments as to the admissibility of confessions made in police custody and much time spent in argument as to what precisely took place and was said during the interrogation. In England and Wales a procedure for the video recording of interro- gations has been introduced on a trial basis and it is argued that this would provide irrefutable evidence of the manner in which the interro- gation was conducted. In Scotland, as in many other European countries, interrogation of suspects in serious criminal cases is carried out not by the police but by an independent officer whose function it is to carry out a formal interrogation of the suspect all of which is adequately recorded and forms the basis of the decision whether to prosecute or not. The introduction of such a system in Ireland might well not only give better protection to suspects who are innocent but also significantly shorten the length of major criminal trials as the evidence acquired in the interrogation would be unassail- able. • 383

Book Reviews Correspondence

Professional Information

Executive Editor: Mary Gaynor Committee: Eamonn G. Hall, Chairman Michael V. O'Mahony, Vice-Chairman John F. Buckley Gary Byrne Patrick McMahon Charles R. M. Meredith Advertising: Seán Ó hOisín. Telephone: 305236 Fax: 307860 Printing: Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford. Daire Murphy John Schutte The views expressed in this publication, save where otherwise indicated, are the views of the contributors and not necessarily the views of the Council of the Society. The appearance of an advertisement in this publication does not necessarily indicate approval by the Society for the product or service advertised. Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Tel.: 710711 Telex: 31219. Fax: 710704