District judge rebuked for questioning word of barrister

Mr Justice Charles Meenan

The barrister in question was defending a man before Naas District Court last July who had pleaded guilty to an offence which he pointed out no longer carried a custodial sentence following the Road Traffic Act 2010.

Judge Desmond Zaidan repeatedly told the barrister “I’m not prepared to take your word for it” and refused to pass sentence until receiving clarification from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

In a ruling last month, Mr Justice Charles Meenan of the High Court said the exchange had established “objective bias on the part of the district judge”.

Mr Justice Meenan said: “The district judge made clear that he did not accept the submission of counsel for the applicant that the offence no longer carried a custodial sentence.

“However, the district judge went further and stated, not once but twice, to counsel ‘I’m not prepared to take your word for it’. As if to drive home the point, the district judge went further and stated that he was ‘waiting for the DPP to tell me what the correct sentence is’.

“In my view, any reasonable person would readily reach the conclusion that, for no stated reason, the district judge was not prepared to accept the word of counsel, a professional person bound by a code of conduct.

“A reasonable person could only conclude that, without any stated reason or explanation, the word of Counsel was being called into question and, thus, the applicant was not getting a fair hearing. I am satisfied that this establishes objective bias on the part of the district judge.”