Nora Wall, Conviction quashed last July
Former nun, Nora Wall, and Paul McCabe, who had their convictions for rape quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal, will have to wait until early next year to know if the Director of Public Prosecutions intends to seek a retrial in their case. This morning, the Court of Criminal Appeal was told that the DPP was seeking an adjournment. He wants to consider a transcript of the trial before deciding how to proceed. Fine Gael's justice spokes-person, Jim Higgins has criticised what he described as "the cavalier manner in which the case has been handled by the state".
Last July, Nora Wall and Paul McCabe had their convictions for the rape of a 10-year-old girl quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal, four days after the sentence had been imposed. The DPP had applied to have the verdicts set aside. The offences were alleged to have happened at a children's home in Cappoquin in County Waterford.
This morning, when the case was called in the Court of Criminal Appeal, counsel for the DPP Denis Vaughan Burckley sought an adjournment. He said the DPP wants to study a transcript of the trial before deciding whether to seek a retrial from the court. Both Nora Wall and Paul McCabe, who are both on bail, were in court for this morning's brief hearing.
When the convictions were set aside, the DPP said the principal reason for his application was that a witness had been called to give evidence during the trial despite his decision that this witness should not be called. There were also two other significant factors influencing his decision.
