This article is from page 6 of the 2013-07-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A FORMER Clare doctor has said an expensive nine-year legal process against him has had a “catastrophic” effect on his life.
Paschal Carmody (65) walked free from Clare Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday after he was cleared of the outstanding charges against him.
It had been alleged that Mr Carmody obtained € 14,300 through falsely pretending that he could cure the cancer of the late JJ Gallagher of Kingswood, Mullingar, County Westmeath.
Counsel for the State, Stephen Coughlan, told the court that Mr Carmody would be relieved to hear that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had decided to enter a nolleprosequi in the outstanding charges against him.
Defence Counsel Lorcan Connolly BL said that concluded all matters against Mr Carmody.
The decision comes seven months after Judge Raymond Fullam directed that Mr Carmody be found not guilty on all nine charges of obtaining money from families of Wexford schoolboy Conor O’Sullivan (15) and Kilkenny man John Sheridan (57).
The charges related to the period 2001-2002 at the East Clinic in Killaloe.
Speaking to reporters after the brief hearing, Mr Carmody, with an address at Ballycuggeran, Killaloe, said the last nine years had been “stressful and expensive”.
He said, “It has been catastrophic. There’s no point in saying it hasn’t been catastrophic. It has been. Okay, I’m a strong man and I can carry it, but it was continuous. It was going on and on. It went on far too long. I will face a trial. I will face any charge and I can take my beating if I’m wrong. But to be taken through the courts three times on evidence that Judge Fullam said was so weak it would be dangerous to progress. I knew that from beginning but why or who or what motive was behind or who was behind it, I don’t know. There was some force behind it that wasn’t motivated by the right circumstances”
Mr Carmody also revealed that he had spent between two and three million euros legal fees since the process began.
Asked if the end of the prosecutions against him had restored his reputation, Mr Carmody said, “It will have to. I’m totally vindicated. I spent over 100 days in court in total. There was no conviction against me. There were 46 charges originally. Not one charge was proven so therefore I feel I am totally vindicated. My work was not in any way wrong. I feel I can now move forward and get on with my life.”