A woman who alleges she was sexually abused for 13 years by her former partner is seeking High Court permission to challenge a decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions to refuse to give reasons for not prosecuting the man.
She is also suing the Garda Commissioner for damages after a garda sergeant had allegedly failed to forward the file on her case to the DPP for three years.
The woman, who was an adult when the alleged abuse took place between 1993 and 2006, made a formal complaint to the gardaí in 2006 and between then and 2009 she made constant efforts to contact the sergeant who had taken the complaint, her counsel Micheal P O'Higgins told the court.
Mr Justice Michael Peart adjourned Mr O'Higgins' application until later this week to allow him to consider the matter because he was concerned about the issue of the independence of the DPP.
In his application, made on an ex-parte basis, Mr O'Higgins said that following three years of trying to find out what was happening with her case, the woman was called in to a meeting with an officer in a south Dublin garda station where she was told the reason was the investigating sergeant had not forwarded the file on the case to the DPP.
The woman had been given assurances that the file would be forwarded but this was not done, counsel said.
The file was then forwarded, in September 2010, to the DPP who later said no prosecution would be taken and no reasons were given for that, counsel said.
Mr O'Higgins said that while they were mindful of the issue of the independence of the DPP, there were circumstances where he could give reasons why a prosecution is not brought. These were where there was improper policy or where the decision is characterised by mala fides.
Until his client was told what the reasons are, she is not in a position to say whether the decision was based on such motives.
While the DPP, at his discretion, gives reasons mainly in fatality cases, limiting such discretion was unreasonable and unfair, counsel argued.
