Anger as one in four killed by offenders out on bail
Families of victims yesterday said that 15 of the 60 people who died in violent circumstances in 2005 were killed by people on bail.
The Advocates of the Victims of Homicide (Advic) group met Mr McDowell yesterday to call for stronger bail laws.
Commenting after a “constructive meeting”, Mr McDowell emphasised the independence of the judiciary when dealing with bail applications.
However, he did say it would be helpful to discover what kind of offences the persons had been granted bail for, and if they were offences of a serious or violent nature.
He said he would undertake to commission research on this, a move welcomed by Advic.
The homicide rate among bail offenders was disclosed for the first time in the garda annual report last month. Previously, the only information disclosed was the number of offences committed on bail.
The garda statistics show that the 5,000 offences committed by people on bail included 242 assaults, 24 sexual assaults and 304 drugs offences.
However, no details have been made available of the nature of the original charges for which serious offenders received bail.
Expressing its anger at the high numbers, Advic said that many deaths could have been avoided.
“I think with such a figure, the system should realise it’s not working. Homicide is the worst crime of all,” said Annie Mulvaney.
Her 19-year-old son Brian was murdered in 2000 by a man who had been out on bail while facing charges in connection with a violent assault.
Brian Willoughby, 24, from Templeogue in Dublin, was sentenced to life imprisonment for beating the young man to death after a party.
The guards objected strongly to him being given bail.
My son should never have met that guy on that night,” said Ms Mulvaney.
She criticised bail laws as being too lax and vague.
“The guards are the ones dealing with criminals all the time and if they object to bail, they have a reason to object to it and they should be listened to,” she said.
New bail legislation introduced following a 1996 referendum allowed bail to be refused by the courts if it could be reasonably shown that a bailed person would commit a serious offence.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said that while it sympathised with victims’ families, new bail laws were not the answer.
Director Aisling Reidy said judges had to be given the capacity to consider all factors when granting or denying bail rather than being restricted by new legislation.
