This article is from page 13 of the 2010-01-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
PASCHAL Carmody is to be retried on charges of defrauding terminally ill cancer patients, after the High Court cleared the way for the case to go ahead.
Last week, the court rejected claims by Pascal Carmody (61), of Bal- lycuggaran, Killaloe, that there had been a delay by the DPP in bringing the charges against him.
The High Court dismissed the claim that Mr Carmody’s right to a fair trial has been prejudiced by the unavailability of a witness, a former patient who has died.
The charges relate to 2001 and 2002. Mr Carmody went on trial at Ennis Circuit Court in 2008. The jury returned not guilty verdicts on six of 17 charges and could not agree a ver- dict on the 11 remaining charges.
Separately, at Ennis District Court on Friday, Mr Carmody was refused leave to appeal a conviction imposed in the district court in Killaloe in Jan- VF Na Yae0 Oe
His lawyers said that while it was unusual to make application after such a length of time had elapsed, the circumstances were “unusual.”
“Mr Carmody was embroiled in se- rious litigation since then. He hasn’t
had a chance to put his mind to mat- ters. In relation to what happened to Mr Carmody as a result of these charges, he was investigated. He was Struck off,’ said his barrister. He said Mr Carmody wanted the opportunity to “attempt to clear his name. In the
interests of justice and in the intere- stof his constitutional rights, I’d ask you to allow him to at least attempt to appeal.”
He said that immediately after the conviction in 2003, the Fitness to Practice committee began to inves-
tigate his client. That case went to the High Court and then criminal in- vestigations began and these are still ongoing.
‘He hasn’t had a chance to consid- er these applications. He feels he was wrongly advised on that occasion
and there were defences available to him that he did not avail of.
“There has been a lot of publicity surrounding Mr Carmody in the last number of years and in those circum- stances, he has not turned up in court today,” said his barrister.
However, state solicitor for Clare, Martin Linnane said this was, ac- cording to the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), “an abuse of process.” He said Mr Carmody had pleaded guilty to 11 charges – in January 2003 – in relation to the manufacture for sale of certain medical products without permission from the IMB.
“The IMB is of the view it is seven years since this case. He pleaded guilty,” he said.
Judge Joseph Mangan refused the application. He said it was unprec- edented, in his experience, for an extension to be sought, some seven years after a case was heard in the district court. “Even if I reject Mr Linnane’s submissions, I still have no evidence to support the conten- tions made by counsel. The applicant has chosen not to attend court today to substantiate any of the grounds. . . He’s not here to support his applica- tion,” he said.