F. v Director of Public Prosecutions (Approved)

1.������ This is an application for certiorari and declaratory relief preventing a criminal prosecution arising from events alleged to have occurred between 1981 and 1985, on grounds of delay and the manner in which the case has been prosecuted, which the applicant says creates a real risk of an unfair trial and on grounds of the exceptional reasons that he says arise from his current health and memory issues.

2.������ The applicant is a 75-year-old man charged with five counts of indecent assault said to have been committed between June 1981 and May 1986 on the complainant when she was between 14 and 19 years of age.

5.������ The applicant asserts specific prejudice firstly from the absence of three witnesses who have passed away and secondly from missing documentary evidence including records from the factory where the complainant worked at weekends and from where she says she visited the applicant. He relies on DPP v CC [2019] IESC 94 where O�Donnell J. held there is a point �at which the deficiencies are of such significance and reality in the context of the particular case that it can be said that it is no longer just to proceed�.

6.������ The applicant says he was diagnosed with memory and cognitive issues in 2002 and relies on TC v DPP [2017] IEHC 839 where White J. found that the applicant�s terminal medical difficulties gave rise to exceptional circumstances that prohibited the criminal trial.

7.������ The applicant also relies on the cumulative effect of the issues on which he relies individually, which he says creates a separate real and serious risk of an unfair trial: McCracken J. in the Supreme Court in DK v DPP [2006] IESC 40 , MacMenamin J. in JD v DPP [2009] IEHC 48 and more recently Kennedy J in MS v DPP [2021] IECA 193