Abuser loses bid to set aside €4.7m award to victims

A man ordered to pay €4.7m damages to two women whom

Joseph Carrick had made “a deliberate decision” not

to attend the court hearings leading to the awards,

Judge Elizabeth Dunne ruled.

A retired company director, Mr Carrick was ordered to

pay €4m to Jacqueline O’Toole and €700,000 to her

cousin Geraldine Nolan after two separate High Court

juries found last November he raped them.

Carrick, aged 72, of Carysfort Woods, Blackrock, Co

Dublin, did not attend and was not represented during

the trials, claiming he was unable to pay for

solicitors.

After the awards were made, plus orders freezing his

assets, he got new solicitors who asked the court to

set aside the damages decrees on grounds including

that he suffered from cognitive impairment at the

time the juries made the awards.

Yesterday, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne ruled he was

not entitled to have the award set aside, meaning no

new trial will take place.

Both women afterwards expressed relief at the judge’s

decision.

“We have been through so much in the last three years

and it is finally coming to an end,” said Ms

O’Toole.

“We have been through five trials and we did not

think last November that we would still be here.”

The case is back before the court next Tuesday when

Ms Justice Dunne will hear applications from

Carrick’s lawyers for a stay on various orders

against him, including the decrees for €4.7m. The

judge will also hear arguments on costs.

In her judgement, Ms Justice Dunne said court rules

allowed for setting aside judgments in certain

circumstances including where a defendant was not

aware the trial was taking place.

That was not the situation here, she said. There was

“a deliberate decision” on Carrick’s part not to

attend court last November when his first solicitors

had ceased to represent him.

“This is not a case of inadvertence, mistake or

surprise,” she said. It was also not the case that

Carrick was unaware the cases were listed for

hearing. The relevant court rules were therefore not

applicable to the facts of this case.

On the issue of Carrick’s mental capacity last

November, the judge said, having regard to all the

evidence, she was not satisfied, on the balance of

probabilities, he lacked capacity to make the

necessary decisions in relation to the cases.