A retired Central Bank administrator who got four years and a €5,000 fine for the possession of hundreds of thousands of child porn images and videos had his conviction quashed because of the incorrect date on the search warrant.
The Court of Criminal Appeal overturned the conviction of Raphael Farina after the Court found that the search warrant used to search his home was dated incorrectly and consequently did not permit entry to the apartment of Mr. Farina in Dublin city centre.
Counsel for Mr. Farina, Ms. Aileen Donnelly SC told the Court of Criminal Appeal that a combination of five flaws in the search warrant obtained, rendered the search warrant invalid in law and incapable of permitting entry to the apartment.
Among the flaws were a misspelling of the address as ‘Springer’s Yard’, instead of the correct address as ‘Spranger’s Yard’. Another flaw was the absence of information regarding the issuing District Court area and number. The date of the search warrant as May 6th 2007 was actually issued on June 6th 2007.
The court also heard that an alteration was made to the search warrant, with a line drawn through the May 6th 2007 date, after its execution.
Mr. Justice Donal O’Donnell noted that before a search warrant to enter a home can be executed, the legal requirements must be strictly met. He found that the defect in the date was fatal to the warrant because the document on its own terms stated that entry was permissible within seven days of May 6th 2007.
Mr. Justice O’Donnell noted the search warrant was meant to be understood in simple terms. Further, the warrant must be taken as it would appear when presented to the accused man.
Judgement was not reserved because Mr. Farina has been in custody since 2011. No retrial was ordered.
