Madden & Finucane
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Madden & Finucane
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the Madden & Finucane
and Pat Finucane
Aisling Awards
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an educational initiative between Belfast Media Group and West Belfast
Partnership. The Aisling Bursaries are designed to help students defray their
education and training costs.
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Adams seeks DPP U-turn
29 October 1999 --
A WEST Belfast republican will today seek a judicial review of the DPP’s
decision not to prosecute the RUC officers accused of beating him up. Solicitors
acting on behalf of David Adams plan to lodge their application for the review
at Belfast’s high court. Mr Adams was awarded £30,000 damages last year after
taking a civil action against the police. The 40-year-old was arrested moments
before a planned IRA murder attempt on a senior RUC officer in east Belfast in
1994. He was later sentenced to 25 years for conspiracy to murder. However, he
claimed that while in Castlereagh holding centre, officers took turns to run at
him, using martial arts type kicks to break his leg. Mr Adams, a cousin of Sinn
Fein president Gerry Adams, spent three weeks in hospital being treated for his
injuries, which also included two fractured ribs, a punctured lung and multiple
cuts to his face, chest and body. The high court found in favour of Mr Adams
during proceedings in February 1998, awarding the highest payment of exemplary
damages ever against the RUC. Despite this, the Director of Public Prosecutions
decided in August this year not to recommend prosecutions following a criminal
investigation of the case. Last night the solicitor representing Mr Adams
explained that the application for a judicial review was not only based on the
DPP’s decision in August. “It is also to question the decision in September when
the DPP failed to provide adequate and intelligible reasons,” said Eamon
McMenamin of Madden and Finucane. “The evidence available is manifestly
sufficient to warrant the prosecution of police officers. “The DPP misdirected
himself in law. He failed to take into account the full range of offences for
which the officers could be prosecuted.” He said the DPP had failed to “bring to
justice police officers who had infringed the human rights of suspects and
breached the minimum standards of conduct for law enforcement officers.” Mr
McMenamin read from his client’s affidavit, which said: “If the same evidence
were available in a similar case where the alleged offenders were members of the
public as opposed to police officers I cannot believe that the director would
fail to prosecute.” An application has been lodged by human rights groups such
as the Committee on the Administration of Justice, Amnesty International and
British Irish Rights Watch. It is believed the case will be heard in two weeks.
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