Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Nally refused leave to appeal conviction
What a disgrace this is. Padraig Nally has been refused leave to appeal against his conviction and six-year jail sentence for the manslaughter of Traveller John 'Frog' Ward.At the Central Criminal Court today Nally's defence had argued that Mr Justice Paul Carney had usurped the constitutional function of the jury by refusing to allow it to consider a not guilty verdict. Mr Justice Carney had ruled that such a verdict on the evidence would be perverse.
The jury in Castlebar last July had two verdicts open to them, murder and manslaughter. They found the 61-year-old not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter after just over two hours deliberating.
Refusing leave to appeal today, Mr Justice Carney said he did not believe he could look John Ward's widow and her 11 children in the face and say that he was required to certify leave to appeal because he did not provide the jury in the case with the mechanism to bring in a perverse verdict.
This is an outrage. The only thing 'perverse' about all this is the fact that Padraig Nally is currently incarcerated. A man who killed a burglar with a history of criminality who had broken into his home.
Irish justice - Criminals matter, victims don't.
# posted by United Irelander @ 12:00 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
