The State has sought dismissal of a damages claim brought by a man whose murder conviction was quashed after he spent nearly fifteen years in prison. The High Court heard that the applicant was convicted in 1980 of the murders of two gardaí during a bank robbery in Ballaghadreen, County Roscommon, and received a death sentence later commuted to forty years imprisonment. His conviction was found unsafe and unsatisfactory by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 1995. The State argues the claim should be dismissed due to inordinate delay and want of prosecution, citing difficulty in locating witnesses nearly four decades after the events. The applicant contests this, attributing any delay to the State. He has also sought discovery of documents relating to DNA analysis conducted in 2002, which he contends are essential to his damages action alleging negligence and breach of constitutional rights. The State opposes the discovery application. The hearing before Ms Justice Carmel Stewart was ongoing.
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Original report plus public source leads and related archive reports used for review context.
Public source leads
- Damages claim brought by late Peter Pringle over unsafe murder conviction struck out - BreakingNews.ie BreakingNews.ie · Thu, 15 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT
- Obituary: Peter Pringle, human rights campaigner who was one of the last people in Ireland to be sentenced to death - Irish Independent Irish Independent · Sat, 07 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMT
- Decision to dismiss damages claim brought by man acquitted of garda murders is overturned - Irish Examiner Irish Examiner · Wed, 18 May 2022 07:00:00 GMT
- Peter Pringle’s death puts events of 1980 in Ballaghaderreen back in public eye - Roscommon People Roscommon People · Thu, 26 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMT
- Peter Pringle is no death-row poster boy - Irish Examiner Irish Examiner · Sat, 03 Sep 2016 07:00:00 GMT
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