Man whose gang rape conviction was overturned seeks miscarriage of justice declaration
The man's conviction for rape was quashed in 2020.
A man who had his gang rape conviction quashed after his lawyers received previously undisclosed information that the complainant had made allegations against others that were either unfounded or not followed up, has applied for a certificate declaring he suffered a miscarriage of justice.
Darren Thompson's counsel told the Court of Appeal on Tuesday there is a "real concern" that issues with disclosure "could be happening on a regular basis" in criminal trials.
In May 2017, Mr Thompson (29) was convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury of raping a woman he had met in a club in Dublin on a night out.
The court heard the prosecution argued that Mr Thompson and two other men raped the woman, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, after she came back to a house with them, where she was told: “It's your birthday surprise.”
Mr Thompson of Belcare Park, Ballymun, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to rape at a house in Dublin but was convicted by a jury and sentenced to six years' imprisonment with the final two years suspended.
In July 2020, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in an appeal where the Director of Public Prosecutions did not oppose Mr Thompson's application. No re-trial was ordered and Mr Thompson had already completed his jail sentence by the time of the appeal hearing.
At the Court of Appeal, Fiona Murphy SC said Mr Thompson was applying for a certificate for a miscarriage of justice because key information had not been disclosed to the defence during the trial.
Ms Murphy said the defence had not been furnished with Tusla documents confirming that the woman had made complaints against three other men that were either unfounded or not followed up by the complainant.
Ms Murphy said she was not trying to attribute blame to anyone in the case but that the omission prevented the defence from cross-examining the complainant on the issue.
The barrister said that the credibility of the complainant was at the heart of the case.
Ms Murphy said that after Mr Thompson was convicted, a third party emerged to say that he had been the subject of an unfounded complaint from the woman.
Ms Murphy said gardaí had received a previous complaint made by the woman but never entered it on to their Pulse system, which amounted to a defect in the disclosure aspect of the case.
She said her client was co-operative with gardaí, did not exercise his right to silence when arrested, and volunteered a DNA sample. The DPP decided not to prosecute the other two men, who had exercised their right to silence.
Mr Murphy said the trial was fundamentally flawed and contrary to the Constitutional notion of a fair trial.
Paul Greene SC, for the DPP, said investigating gardaí did "everything right" in the case and could not find references to the other complaints on the Pulse system because they were either not put there by other gardaí or a formal Garda complaint had not been made.
Mr Greene said the situation could not point to a "systemic" failure but rather to a single failure.
He said that the gardaí involved were "blameless" in the matter and that there was enough evidence to bring a prosecution against Mr Thompson.
Mr Greene said it was the State's submission that the trial was not a "fatally flawed" one containing a "grave defect" required for a miscarriage of justice.
Mr Greene said Mr Thompson was ably represented at his trial and that a cross-examination of the complainant led to a "multitude of inconsistencies".
He said that in a case were a complainant was viewed as having a propensity to lie, that would be enough for the conviction to be quashed but it was not "grave or egregious" enough to declare a miscarriage of justice.
Ms Murphy replied that the failure to include the other complaints meant the DPP conceded to the quashing of Mr Thompson's conviction, which would not have happened "in a million years" if the other complaints did not have consequence in the case.
"For whatever reason a grave defect arose because this disclosure was not shown to the defence," said Ms Murphy.
Presiding judge Mr Justice John Edwards said the court would reserve judgment in the case.
The trial heard from the complainant that she had consensual sex with a man she met at the nightclub, but she alleged that two men, including Mr Thompson, appeared in her bedroom and tried to have sex with her.
She said she told them to stop but she felt someone inside her while another man had his hands on her breasts and that this happened three times.
“I asked them to stop and I got told it was my 'birthday surprise',” she said.
Mr Thompson admitted having sex but told gardaí the woman had consented to him “joining in”.
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