Kildare judge criticises garda for bringing bench warrant from 2007 before him

A Naas District Court judge criticised a garda for bringing a 16-year-old warrant before him on Thursday, November 23 last.

The judge made the comments in the case of a man who was the subject of two separate bench warrants.

In simple terms, bench warrants are issued by judges when a suspect fails to turn up for a court date.

If a defendant doesn’t turn up in court on the adjourned date, and the judge believes that you were given reasonable notice of the adjourned hearing, then, depending on the circumstances of the case, the judge can either go ahead with the hearing in your absence, or issue a warrant for your arrest to bring you to the court.

While presiding over one court session, Judge Zaidan asked gardaí why one bench warrant before him was dated all the way back to 2007 (the matter was in relation to the enforcement of a fine for a driving with no insurance offence dated to 2006).

In response, a garda who was sworn in explained that the warrant was only forwarded on to them back in September, but they added that they did not know the reason behind the delay.

"You do know this man has constitutional rights," the judge said: "You don’t know why this delay happened, and you’re a member of the gardaí? That’s actually embarrassing."

The judge decided to strike-out the enforcement matter against the man.

"16 years…" he added, while slowly shaking his head in disbelief.

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The man also faced a separate bench warrant, which was dated to September of this year, in relation to an unspecified 2021 offence.

Defending solicitor Tim Kennelly said that his client had moved house, and as a result had never received notice of the letter requesting his attendance to court.

He added that his client was apologetic for the mix-up, and the garda said that he accepted that Mr Kennelly’s client made a genuine error.

After the garda executed the second bench warrant, Judge Zaidan adjourned the second matter to May 9, 2024, for hearing.

He also marked the case peremptory against the defendant.