43 killings in 4 years were by people out on bail

ALMOST 90,000 crimes including 43 homicides and 68 sexual offences have been committed by suspects out on bail since 2004, figures have revealed.

They have prompted a Fine Gael TD to call for the introduction of remand without trial for certain suspects.

Already this year, gardaí believe that people granted bail in the courts committed a total of 6,165 offences between January and June, including 250 cases of drug-dealing and 46 fraud crimes.

The statistics have been described as “shocking” by victims’ group Advic, which has called on legal practitioners to heed the warnings of gardaí when it comes to bail applications in court.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s Bernard Durkan, chairman of the Dáil committee on European Affairs, says that people charged with crimes involving the shooting of a gun should not be given bail in any circumstances.

“My party wouldn’t agree with me but I think a remand in custody is needed in respect of serious crime,” Mr Durkan told the Irish Examiner.

Joan Dean of Advic said: “In cases where gardaí recommend that bail isn’t given, they should be taken far more seriously because they are aware of the situation on the ground.”

“They wouldn’t make such a request lightly and the judiciary should take it on board. The guards are the ones on the front line and know exactly the character of the people they’re dealing with in a lot of cases. But too often, when they make recommendations they’re overruled in court.”

Between 2004 and June of this year, 33 murders and other unlawful killings were suspected to have been carried out by people on bail, along with four cases of dangerous driving causing death.

Advic is run by and for families bereaved by homicide and campaigns for victims to be placed at the centre of the judicial process.

“One of the things that we would say is that the victim is being lost in the system,” said Ms Dean. “The system appears to exist purely to assist criminals.”

She welcomed the DPP’s announcement during the week that homicide victims’ families are to be given reasons for non-prosecution of suspects where possible, as a first step towards focussing on the bereaved. “The pain is huge and very often the families are not listened to. But in the Constitution, there seems to be a God-given right to bail.”

Apart from homicides, more than 2,500 assaults were committed by suspects on bail between 2004 and mid-2008, along with 68 sexual offences, 120 instances of child endangerment, cruelty or neglect, and 10 abductions of a person under the age of 16.

More than 1,800 robberies from an establishment, goods-in-transit or from people were carried out by bailed suspects, as well as almost 6,000 burglaries, 3,361 car-thefts and 901 cases of fraud and deception. The total amount of crimes committed by suspects on bail since 2004 is 86,870.

Deputy Bernard Durkan said that criminals are “driving a coach and four” through the law. “This is a personal view, but I think the bail laws need to be tightened up considerably. If needs be, the law should be revised with a view to removing the availability of bail for people in certain categories of crime. Gun crime is one example. I don’t accept that a person who shoots somebody and is charged should be out on bail. The general public are at risk.”