asked the Minister for Justice whether his attention has been directed to the conviction of Vincent Dunne at Galway Circuit Court and his sentence of three years' penal servitude; whether he is aware that Vincent Dunne was at the time of the offence and during his trial an inmate of Ballinasloe Mental Hospital and was certified by the acting R.M.S. of that institution to be insane, and whether he will inquire into the circumstances of this case with a view to determining whether this sentence should be reviewed.
Ceisteanna.—Questions. Oral Answers. - Galway Circuit Court Conviction.
Mr. Boland
I have asked for a transcript of the shorthand-writer's note of the proceedings in this case, and when this has been received I shall have the matter fully considered.
In the meantime, it is perhaps right to say that there does not appear to be any reason to believe that the procedure followed was in any way irregular or that there was a miscarriage of justice. From the short report which has already been received it would appear that the jury, after bearing medical evidence, found that the accused man was mentally fit to stand his trial, and the trial then proceeded in due course.
I am correct in stating that the man was actually an inmate of Ballinasloe Mental Hospital?
Mr. Boland
That is so.
And that the medical officer of that hospital came into court with him and said: "This man is mad. I am holding him in Ballinasloe because he is mad, and he perpetrated the assault for which he is charged, while mad, on another madman in Ballinasloe"? If that is not evidence enough that a man is mad, I do not know what the jury wants.
Mr. Boland
The law is that if there is any question of a man's fitness to plead, even though he is an inmate of an asylum, it is a question for the jury to settle. The law was followed in this case, I am so advised. However, I am having the whole matter inquired into.
Would the Minister say whether a jury was empanelled to say whether the man was considered fit to plead or not?
Mr. Boland
Yes.