Redmond corruption charge overturned
Former Assistant Dublin City and Council Manager George Redmond had his corruption charge overturned today by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The court ruled that new evidence relating to bank records from 1988 rendered his conviction “unsafe and unsatisfactory”.
Mr Redmond, aged 80, was jailed last December for one year after being found guilty of receiving a IR£10,000 bribe from garage owner Brendan Fassnidge in 1988.
He will not face a retrial because he has served virtually the whole sentence, the judge said.
Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, presiding over the three judge court, ruled that the bank records showed no proof of Mr Fassnidge having withdrawn IR£10,000 in cash from his account at the time in question.
“If these bank records had been available at the trial Mr Fassnidge might have been forced to concede… he was wrong in his allegation,” she said.
She added that much of the key witness’s evidence was contradicted and that it was often inconsistent.
“The new evidence before this court now shows that this crucial part of Mr Fassnidge’s evidence is simply wrong,” she said.
“Had this evidence been available to the defence at the trial, it would assuredly have thrown a very grave doubt over Mr Fassnidge’s evidence as a whole.”
She said it was the court’s view that had these bank records been available to the trial jury there was a “strong possibility” that the evidence would have raised reasonable doubt in their minds as to whether Mr Redmond was guilty.
On leaving the court Mr Redmond smiled but said he had nothing to say.
