Farmer acquitted of evading excise duty on cider

A farmer has been acquitted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on charges of evading excise duty on cider he made and sold in farmers' markets.

David Llewellyn, who runs the Fruit of the Vine farm on Quickpenny Road, Lusk, was found not guilty by direction of Judge Frank O'Donnell following submissions by defence counsel, Mr Tony McGillicuddy BL, on day five of the trial.

Judge O'Donnell told the jury there was a conflict between two pieces of legislation governing the taxation of cider and in light of this he had no choice but to direct that it find Mr Llewellyn not guilty on both counts before the court.

Mr Llewellyn had pleaded not guilty to two counts of evading excise duty on cider produced by him and sold in farmers' markets.

He said in evidence that his requests for information had been "ignored" by Revenue Commissioners' officials prior to a raid on his farm in 2004 when more than 8,000 bottles and ten 1,000 litre tanks believed to have contained cider were seized.

"If I knew what I was doing was illegal I wouldn't have continued to do it so openly," he added.

Judge O'Donnell said the original legislation said cider was liable for excise duty from the date when it was stored for sale but this was later changed to say it was taxable from the moment it was produced.

He told the jury that when customs officials visited Mr Llewellyn's farm they were not aware the law had been changed. He found there was "a dichotomy with that legislation and what Mr Llewellyn was charged with" and he couldn't leave it "to the vagaries of what you might think was the case".

"It was an entirely different offence," Judge O'Donnell said. "Criminal law must be exact, there can be no vagueness."

Mr Llewellyn said in evidence that he didn't apply to the Revenue Commissioners for an excise license after been advised to do so by Customs and Excise officials because he assumed he was eligible for an exemption.

He said he had received details of a regulation in the Cider Duty Act 1940 that excused farmers from paying excise on cider they produced on a non-regular basis.

He had tried to get further information on the exemption but was "ignored" by Revenue officials so he decided to accept the Act as applying to him.

"I just made an assumption I was okay. I was only making a small amount of cider and I thought if anyone came to me I would be able to explain it to them."

When asked by prosecution counsel, Mr Dominic McGinn BL, in cross-examination, why he continued to produce and sell cider after been told by customs officials it was illegal to do so, Mr Llewellyn replied: "I didn't necessarily accept what they were telling me."

Judge O'Donnell commended the jurors for their close attention to what he called a "difficult case" before sending them away and telling Mr Llewellyn he was free to go.