Criminal who kidnapped, tortured Kevin Lunney challenges constitutionality of conviction
Alan Harte (43) was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the non-jury, three-judge Special Criminal Court for committing serious harm and falsely imprisoning Mr Lunney at a yard in Drumbrade, Ballinagh, Co Cavan, in September 2019.
At the Court of Appeal on Monday, Michael O'Higgins SC, for Harte, said there were two grounds to the appeal: whether it was possible for the Special Criminal Court to deliver a majority verdict and whether that court was entitled not to disclose whether the verdict was unanimous or not.
'If a person is convicted, they should know if it is a unanimous or majority verdict,' Mr O'Higgins said. 'When taking someone's liberty away, it should be done with absolute transparency.'
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He said that a court, when not making rulings, was in effect acting as a juror, so the judges of the Special Criminal Court were engaged in the same exercise as a jury.
'It's irrelevant who is doing it, they're carrying out the same task with the same criteria. If the verdict falls below a level, the trial becomes unacceptable,' Mr O'Higgins said.
He said that while there were procedural differences between the courts, once a jury or judges retired to consider their verdict they were in the same category.
Remy Farrell SC, for the State, said a jury trial involved trial by a reasonable cross-section of society, but the Special Criminal Court comprised judges who were not representative of a cross-section of society, so these were completely different concepts.
Mr Justice John Edwards, presiding, said the court would reserve judgment.
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