O'C. (J.) v. D.P.P

By order of this Court dated the 30 th of April 2001, Mr. Justice Barr granted to the applicant leave to apply by way of application for judicial review for the following reliefs:-

The grounds upon which this relief is sought are those set out at paragraph E of the applicant's Statement Grounding Application for Judicial Review (as mended by order of Barr J. dated 30 th April 2001) as follows:

The applicant's submission is that as a result of the fact that he has now been clinically diagnosed as suffering from the onset of early Alzheimer's disease, he is unable to fully and properly defend himself, and that there is accordingly a real and substantial risk that any trial of the offences with which the applicant is charged would be unfair having regard to the time at which the offences are alleged to have been committed, that is, between the 20 th October 1974 and the 20 th October 1978, and the applicant's medical condition.

At this point it is worth noting that the Respondent also arranged for an examination of the applicant to be carried out on its behalf by Mr. Paul McCarthy, consultant psychiatrist. A copy of that report is contained at exhibit D of the said affidavit of Liam Guidera. In this report, Mr. McCarthy, having "noted specially the atrophic brain deterioration that had been shown in the CT scan", concludes as follows:

In those proceedings the applicant sought an order by way of judicial review, prohibiting the Respondent from proceeding with the same charges as are the subject of the present application, on the following grounds:-