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THE JURY IN the trial of three Anglo Irish Bank executives were tasked one week ago today with deciding whether to bring the first convictions against Irish bankers under specific laws.
The seven women and five men heard complex and technical evidence from 54 witnesses over the course of two months but from last Friday all eyes were on them.
Once their deliberations had started, it was a guessing game for the legal teams, the media and members of the public who attended the trial as to when they would come to a decision.
The accused were told not to stray too far as they could return with a verdict (or partial verdicts) at any time.
A tense atmosphere of unknowing grew as the hours dwindled away.
By law, the group had to have discussions of at least two hours and twenty minutes.
They were tasked with coming up with verdicts in relation to charges against Anglo Irish Bank’s former CEO and chairman Seán FitzPatrick, the former MD of lending in Ireland for Anglo, Patrick Whelan and the former chief risk officer and finance director, William McAteer who were charged with breaching Section 60 of the Companies Act 1963.
Surely, it would take longer then than 140 minutes? Some thought not. There was expectation on Monday.
“Would it be quick?”
“Will they take their time?
“And will it be unanimous?”
These were all questions being thrown around.
“When do you think they’ll be back?” mused one reporter to another.
It’s hard to tell, a lot of boxes of evidence went into the room after them.
On Monday, the first full day of deliberations, journalists from all major Irish media outlets squeezed into their allotted seats, elbow to elbow, as the jury filed in.
FitzPatrick, Whelan and McAteer were sitting together to the left of the court room, all with expressionless faces.
Instead of a verdict, the jury had a question. Members wanted a copy of loan documentation relating to Seán Quinn’s wife, Patricia. That was that. They all filed out with the judge telling them to return again in a few hours.
Up on their feet again, the accused got up and left the court room, though they were told ‘not to go too far’ in case the jury returned.
The expectation of a result today lessened. The jury was mulling over certain aspects of people’s testimony. They were being dogged.
Matter of time
Some members of the legal teams and media filed out of the court room taking seats just outside, hovering over their mobiles and laptops. Now, it was just a matter of waiting.
The Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin is a grandiose circular building, with glass elevators and court rooms on each of its sixth floor. It is filled with barristers in wigs and gowns, gardaí and a spectrum of Irish society. There is not much to do, other than let time roll by.
Waiting around for a verdict is tedious, but people watching and observing the everyday goings on – such as the mundanity of window washing, where three men scaled down the side of the building, swinging from side to side with wipers and suds, caught most people’s eye.
TV3′s Brian O’ Donovan went outside to capture the scene as taking images is prohibited inside the Criminal Courts of Justice.
Whelan and McAteer often waited outside the court room with the media and their legal teams. FitzPatrick generally left the general vicinity of the court room area, but never took the elevator. He always walked the six flights of stairs.
Guessing game
When asked when they thought a verdict might be returned, one of the legal team said he never takes chances with an unknown group.
If you have been doing trials with a jury long enough you know that you can never guess when a jury will make up their mind. It’s really anyone’s guess.
One person speculated that the jury might not want to be seen to be too quick, so they might draw it out. While another speculated that if they were asking for documents perhaps it would go into next week.
“It could come down to human psychology. They have been here for two months now, they have jobs and lives to get back to, do they really want to return after the Easter break? I don’t think so.”
The jury returned again. Would this be it? No. This time they wanted court transcripts.
That was it for day one of full deliberations. The jury were sent home.
Business as usual
On Tuesday, it was all a bit stagnant. The same court room but a dampened atmosphere. This may not be a historic day.
While the deliberations continued in the jury room, Judge Martin Nolan continued to hear cases before him.
Plaintiffs accused of robbery and shoplifting appear in court – the juxtaposition of small amounts of stolen cash to that of hundreds of thousands of euros mentioned in the Anglo trial shows the wide spectrum of the justice system.
One man appeared before Judge Nolan accused of stealing from people’s pockets in a Dublin pub, while another was in court for breaching his probation.
Instead of scores of barristers filling up desks like that of the defense and prosecution in the Anglo trial, there are but two barristers arguing the case as to why the accused should be released on bail or stay in jail until their court date.
Members of the gardaí gave evidence to the judge, with one stating that an accused male concealed his identity to the gardaí upon his arrest. His counsel argued for him to be released on bail.
Judge Nolan questioned his trustworthiness, stating that he misled the gardaí.
Some were released on €100 bonds and had to await their trial while others were remanded in custody.
The men dressed in tracksuits sat in the same dock as FitzPatrick, Whelan and McAteer – all in the same position of awaiting to hear their fate.
Court 19
At the outset of the Anglo trial there was speculation that there would be a lot of public interest in the trial throughout, so much so, that an overflow room was made available for the extra crowds who wished to attend the proceedings.
However, at the end of the trial, Court 19 had plenty of room. Had the public lost interest? Maybe. The overflow room was rarely needed, I was told.
Tuesday proved fruitless also as the jury failed to return with a verdict. Each time they filed out of the jury room, they looked that bit more tired.
At the end of each day, media photographers waited outside the courts for a glimpse of the men.
Standing on the steps, film crews and photographers waited for the three to head home. There were amusing moments when other people leaving the building were visibly taken aback by the presence of photographers.
People’s reactions differed. They would either strike a little pose for the laugh or scuttle away shielding their faces.
FitzPatrick, Whelan and McAteer left each day, with nothing to say.
After hours of deliberating and a direction from the judge that they did not need a unanimous verdict, the jury returned late on the third day. They had found that FitzPatrick was not guilty on all charges.
By Friday, Patrick Whelan and William McAteer were each found guilty of giving illegal loans to Maple 10, but found not guilty of giving illegal loans to any member of the Quinn family.
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Thank god the mean streets of stepaside will finally be safe again
@Lurfic: You obviously don’t know Ballyogan or the area at all.
@Niall Brew: Ballyogen is in the Cabinteely area …not Stepaside
@Christopher Doyle: nah it’s not
@Art Attack Head: just goes to show what u know … nice head by the way
@Niall Brew: I never heard of Ballyogan. Is it the ghetto of South Co. Dublin?. Where you’ll get a rugby ball across the back of your head if you step out of line.
@Tom Allen: Har har all of South Dublin is rich and upper class….oh Lord
@Christopher Doyle: sorry typo..Ballyogan. which isn’t in the Cabinteely area. Its 6 mins from Stepaside, 9 from Cabinteely
@Niall Brew: there’s a station two km away.
@Niall Brew: ah i see, fair play. You countered my comment with facts. If more people on this app did that, we would all learn something.
@Tom Allen: Its not a bad area or anything, i’m just using it as an example. The stepaside Garda station is a main one for a large area. I mean a mr big has lived in Sandyford and currently resides in Churchtown. Every area in Dublin has issues. How many people have heard of Beech Hill in D4?
@Lurfic: every single business in stepaside village has been done in at least once, including the pub since the garda station shut down. Ballyogan is covered by cabinteely garda station by the way
@Tom Allen: You definitely wouldn’t be getting a rugby ball to the back of the head in Ballyogan, that’s for sure. I don’t think our friends, of their own ethnic background that live in the area, have mastered the art of it yet….
@Tom Allen: Put it this way, in the local Dunnes Stores they store all of the baby seat trolleys at the back of the shop to stop families nicking them to use as prams. – no joke! Its just so convenient when you drive up the shop with 2 babies in the rain. Parts of Bally-O are fully fledged alright.
It’s a start, now reopen the rest of them and recruit even more guards, like another 5000, the country is riddled with crime
@The Rev Ndabaningi Sithole: so true, absolutely a joke the reserve guards are, train them as real guards no more pretending guards, joke
@Mick Hannigan: the country isn’t riddled with crime. It’s riddled with criminals with 200+ convictions!
@Adam O’Sullivan: call it whatever, the country is riddled with it,
@Mick Hannigan: they could do with recruiting a few guards with a bit of manners,most of the present crew treat the public as a nuisance,worthy of a few grunts complete with a few snide remarks,depending on the mood.I am starting to think most of them are permanently hungover.
@joe oneill: There’s no grunt like a garda grunt. I was top of my class in Templemore for it.
@Tom All,you should have heard the grunt when I asked my local FF TD could he get me in to Templemore…I think it was a grunt of approval,never bothered me bollixxxx turning up for the interview.
Any more guards being sent out to Offaly?
Plenty of assaults and robberies against the elderly there the last while.
@Franklin Roosevelt: No. Sure haven’t they done a good spread? like Clare is included …. oh wait. No it’s not.
@Franklin Roosevelt: no, just some handy desk jobs and more Gardai taken off the streets.
Open them all up again
@Martin Parke: half of them were sold off.
@David Dickson: Correct.
@David Dickson: __ Did they get to keep the blue light out front, to keep the burglars away?
Ballinspittle ,what a joke , it’s been thirty years since anything moved down there !
@Robert G Barrett: the only crime down there is closely related locals marrying each other ffs
“Stepaside, Gardaí coming through”.
Probably riddled with damp from being abandoned and will cost tens of thousands to rectify and decommission IT requirements. They should never have been closed!
@Me_a_monkey: I believe they had security guards living in the stepaside station maintaining it as well as far as I know.
Very nice places….
This will make the rural burglars very happy! Bloody joke
@Frankie Shanley: 4 of the 6 are in rural areas
All stations that were closed should be reopened. They were all operational for a reason. Maybe if crime visited some of the politicians we would have a different outlook.
Ahh Shane Ross the articulate bull@¥#%er, no reason to suspect his local stepaside station “with one of the lowest crime rates in the country” was anything to do with him when it was set to reopen.
Nothing to see here, no corruption in the gardai and no complicity in the dail. smh
Shane’s been off the seen lately, probably betting “ if one is out of sight then one surely is out of mind” what what ha ha, 1 months holidays lads what, spiffing!
What a joke, it’s a never ending punchline.
#Ruralcrimescantbeignored
@Declan: Yep. As usual, the opportunity to announce something any number of times is most welcome to the likes of Ross.
Things close in a recession and reopen in a recovery, unless everyone here wants to pay more tax
@Fergus Sheahan: crime incidence increases in a recession, during austerity and during a differential recovery process.
@Fergus Sheahan: I would be happy to pay a bit more tax if it would guarantee better public services and infrastructure
@EillieEs: we wouldn’t even pay for water, we want everything for free
Good news for Dublin 18!
From the shrill critic of parish pump politics while in opposition.
Like to see more Guards on patrol ,so poor old Santa can do his job safely.
They should have announced this last week, or the week before. Oh wait.
Not like Ross to miss a camera opp
He must be out stopping a strike on the
Trains ? No
Bus ? No
Ryanair ? No
Trams ? No
Forgot that is not his way of sorting out problems
He must be in North Korea
Bring back the flower bed and Sgt Keaveny!
No point having more Garda stations and Gardai arresting criminals….If the Judges just let them all out on bail to re-offend….Even after 50 previous convictions…..
@John003: Two solutions for crime.
1. Build a massive prison away from Dublin.
2. Put electronic bracelets into practice.
@Dave Sherman:
Probably would make sense to build one in Portlaoise, theres experienced staff available for training new hires and logistics are already established plus there is ample undeveloped land and presumably a source of staff in Portlaoise itself.
We absolutely need to tag as well particularly those with long lines of offences, and those who don’t comply with it can go straight in the clink.
Why is this even a discussion, surely it makes sense to just do it?
How much are we spending on free legal aid, surely that money should be spent on running Jails..
What about my local station Mr Ross? Quin county Clare?
Shane Ross. Minister for a affairs except his own actual department. What a useless excuse for a politician.
The future crime prevention and future crime clear up rate is already established, statistically speaking, before these Stations are even re-opened.
have your say