This Is What Irish Corruption Looks Like

PREVIOUSLY:

“The George Gibney Victory Lap — And Beyond,” July 6, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16697

“The Irish Taboo Against Mentioning in the Same Breath Susan Denham (of the Supreme Court Panel That Sprang George Gibney in 1994) and Patrick Gageby (Gibney’s Barrister and Denham’s Brother),” July 8, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16701

“Introducing the Behind-the-Scenes Tale of the Disastrous Implications of the Irish Supreme Court’s Original 1994 Springing of George Gibney,” July 11, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16708

“Let’s Talk about the Other (Scrupulously Unpublicized) Defendants in Ireland’s Historical Sexual Abuse Cases Who Enjoyed Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Cards Thanks to the Supreme Court’s 1994 George Gibney ‘Delay Card’ Ruling,” July 14, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16715

“The Post-George Gibney Stench of Corruption in Historical Sexual Abuse Cases Hangs in the Irish Air — Whether or Not Anyone Wants to Acknowledge It,” July 16, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16722

“T-Minus One Week to George Gibney’s Sentencing. Also, 32 Years Into Lack of Scrutiny of the Corrupt Irish Legal Regime That Allowed Gibney and Fellow Child Molesters to Roam Free,” July 22, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16730

“For the First Time, Here are the Full Texts and Analysis of the Two 1990s Irish Supreme Court Decisions That Bracketed the George Gibney Era’s Handling of ‘Historical’ Sexual Abuse Allegations,” July 23, https://concussioninc.net/?p=16738

by Irvin Muchnick

Yesterday we reviewed the full texts of the Irish Supreme Court’s G. and P.C. decisions regarding elapsed time in sexual abuse cases brought by the director of public prosecutions. The first decision, George Gibney’s in 1994, opened a window for alleged molesters and rapists to get rulings that their prosecutions had to be thrown out because too much time had gone by. The second decision, in 1999, closed that window.

In between, Patrick Gageby and other prominent lawyers seized this loophole to get scores of defendants off the hook, usually without even having to make a court appearance. Gageby was Gibney’s barrister in ’94 (and in the recent trial in which Gibney was finally convicted on a second set of charges). Gageby is also the brother of Susan Denham, the Supreme Court justice, later chief justice, who emphatically concurred in both the ’94 and ’99 decisions.

Let’s boil all this down.

1994, G. v. DPP

Chiief Justice Thomas Finlay: “The right of an accused person to a fair trial is a constitutional right which is absolute…. Where there has been a long delay … the court must intervene if there is a real risk of an unfair trial.”

Justice Denham: “The applicant is required to establish that he has made out a stateable case, an arguable case in law…. The law on the varying burdens of proof … applies to all applicants. No matter how heinous the crime … every man, woman and child … is entitled to the rule of law.”

1999, P.C. v. DPP

Justice Denham:

“The complainant’s inability to make a formal complaint … was a consequence of the alleged abuse…. The fault for the delay lay with the alleged perpetrator of the crime.[…]”

…

“Fundamental principles … are at the kernel of this case … the community’s right to have its society protected, especially its most vulnerable – children.”

*****

The evidence is incontrovertible. An Irish Supreme Court justice, unethically co-presiding over a case argued by her brother, is responsible — along with her brother and other pillars of the nation’s legal establishment — in helping thwart for more than 30 years the accountability of a man who became the most notorious at-large sex criminal in sports history.

Moreover, the precedent established by the original Gibney judgment enabled, for half a decade, many other well-connected Irish to get out from under allegations of similar crimes.

In lamenting the Irish legal system’s and society’s inability to get a handle on their history of abuse, many observers cite corruption. But they do so vaguely. This is what corruption looks like.