Note: A version of this article was originally posted in March of this year, to mark Justice Carney’s impending retirement. It is being republished following his death today, aged 72.
JUSTICE PAUL CARNEY – who presided over dozens of rape and murder trials over the last two-and-a-half decades – died today, aged 72.
Before his retirement in April of this year he had been the senior ordinary judge of the High Court, and the presiding judge of its criminal division.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering he took so many high-profile cases, his rulings often came in for criticism.
Recently, his decision in 2013 to sentence then-72-year-old sex offender Patrick O’Brien to 12 years in jail, suspending all but three years of the term, was met with shock.
Carney also granted the convicted man bail at that sentencing – a decision the judge later apologised to O’Brien’s victim over, admitting he had been insensitive.
“I express Ms Doyle my profound regret for the distress that has been caused to her in this case,” Carney said.
O’Brien, from Oldcourt in Bray, Wicklow was found guilty of repeatedly raping his daughter Fiona Doyle between 1973 and 1982.
His sentence was found to be unduly lenient earlier this year, and he was given another seven years in prison – meaning he is not now due for release until 2022.
Speaking after that ruling, Fiona Doyle said it had been “a long road”.
2006
Going back a decade or so – Carney’s decision in 2006 to hand Wayne O’Donoghue a four-year sentence for killing his 11-year-old neighbour Robert Holohan was upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeal following an appeal for ‘undue leniency’ from the DPP.
In its 33-page judgement, the three-judge court said Carney’s ruling had been the correct one.
Prior to imposing that sentence, following a verdict of manslaughter, the judge had warned the victim’s mother to prepare herself – saying the sentence he would be imposing would be upsetting for her, before explaining the reasoning behind his decision.
In 2013, Carney was part of the three-judge court presiding over MS sufferer Marie Fleming’s ‘right to die’ bid.
The court refused an application from the former UCD lecturer to have a legal clause which would forbid her husband from assisting her in ending her own life declared unconstitutional.
The case failed, but the judges said in their statement that Marie had “humbled and inspired” them.
Tributes
A former election agent to ex-Tánaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Micheal McDowell, Paul Carney was a UCD graduate and was educated in Sweden and in Dublin’s Gonzaga College.
He was called to the bar in 1966 and practised predominantly in the area of criminal law – both prosecuting and defending.
Carney was appointed to the High Court in 1991 and was also an adjunct professor at UCC and NUI Maynooth from the mid-2000s.
In a statement today Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said he was “a judge of exceptional ability who made a huge contribution to the High Court bench”.
Ken Murphy, Director General of the Law Society of Ireland, said he was “one of Ireland’s greatest ever criminal judges”.
“He did society’s dirty work,” Murphy added.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say