Withholding of name of deceased suspect.

political analyst

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/there-is-a-suspect-for-the-man-who-raped-me-a-dead-priest-why-cant-the-dpp-tell-me-his-name/a2061825.html

There's a paywall on this article. So I'll state the info that is specific to this OP - I've read it in the printed edition and it has especially horrific detail of the crime that was perpetrated.

Jonathan Randall was raped by a priest in Bettystown in 1979, when he was 4 years old. In 2019, he gave a statement to gardaí. In 2021, they told him that they couldn't tell him the name of the suspect but that the name was well known and that the rapist's crimes led to a major political fallout and involved a specified number of extradition requests. Jonathan believed that the suspect was Fr Brendan Smyth, who was the only person who fitted the description, particularly the number of extradition charges.

However, a source has told the Sunday Indo that the suspect was not Smyth but a different priest from Northern Ireland. The suspect is deceased but the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is, for legal reasons, not releasing the suspect's name.

Release of the suspect's name would open the way for Jonathan to initiate legal action against Smyth's order, the Norbertines, but that's not Jonathan's motivation. Jonathan said, "What is most important to me is to have a name. I think it would help give me some kind of closure. The fact the State won't give me one is retraumatising. What was the point in my coming forwards in 2019?".

The ODPP told the paper: "The question of whether this office should release the name of a suspect in circumstances where that person is deceased, and where that person's name is not already in the public, would be carefully assessed in any individual case. That assessment would focus on whether there is a legal basis to share that personal information".

Jonathan has enlisted Stuart Gilhooly, of HJ Ward LLP in Dublin, as he continues to seek official confirmation of his abuser's identity. Mr Gilhooly said, "We are now considering the appropriate court action against the relevant authorities".

What legal impediments could there be to the releasing of the name of a deceased suspect in a case like this?

coylemj

A dead man cannot defend himself against any kind of allegations. And,as you suggest, releasing his name would potentially expose his associates to a civil action. Which you claim is not the motivation for seeking to have the person's name released. Because all the victim wants is 'some kind of closure'. This rings a bit hollow for me, considering that the events took place over 40 years ago and that he has engaged lawyers in an attempt to have the guy named.

I recall a recent case where a woman went public to say that several years earlier, she had been forced to resign from the Gardai because she had had a baby while unmarried. All she wanted was an apology from the authorities so she could get some kind of closure and get on with her life. Faced with a media storm, both the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice issued her an apology. The very next day, she announced that she was going to sue the state. And with those apologies in her pocket, she probably got a settlement. Good work on the part of her lawyers. Who were probably coaching her from the wings when she launched her campaign.

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121244455#Comment_121244455

But whether or not Jonathan sues the dead man's associates is not the State's problem.

Peregrinus

. . . which is why the State doesn't want to become involved in it.

It's a general policy of the DPP's office not to do anything to "demonise" someone against whom they are not bringing charges; they regard that as oppressive and an abuse of power. So, the information on their files is never made public in a way that would damage anyone's reputation or assist anyone else in pursuing somebody who has not been, and will not be, charged with any crime.

political analyst

An update on the case:

After Mr Randall started legal action, the Chief State Solicitor's office disclosed that the rapist was Joseph Michael Steele, who was jailed for 2 and a half years in 1996 for abusing 10 children over 14 years in Northern Ireland. In 2012, Steele pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a girl and a boy between 1967 and 1983. In May that year, sentencing was adjourned after a psychiatrist raised concerns about Steele's mental health. Steele died on 17 November that year, aged 72, as a "retired Catholic priest" living in Terenure, according to info released to Stuart Gilhooly of HJ Ward LLP.

The following article is free to read.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/why-did-it-take-three-years-to-name-rapist-priest-asks-victim-of-paedophile-cleric-joseph-michael-steele/a1915126445.html

flatty

Two and a half years is derisory. It's just wrong.

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122627766#Comment_122627766

It's better than an entirely suspended sentence.