Presidential Pardon (1)
01 January 1991
Presidential Pardon
artdoc August=1992
At the end of April, Mary Robinson, the President of Ireland, was
directed by the government to pardon Nicky Kelly, convicted of
the 1976 Sallins mail train robbery. This case is the most
infamous example of a miscarriage of justice in the Republic of
Ireland. Kelly was one of six men originally charged with the
robbery. Four of these went to trial and three were convicted.
On appeal Brian McNally and Osgur Breatnach were released, but
Kelly remained in jail, his eventual appeal to the Supreme Court
being dismissed. Kelly had been convicted on the basis of a
statement signed while under interrogation by the Garda's
notorious 'heavy gang', allegations against which led the
government to set up the O'Briain Committee in 1977. Kelly always
maintained his innocence, arguing that he had only signed a
confession after a sustained beating. Gardai claimed that the
severe bruising found on Kelly when he arrived in Mountjoy prison
had been caused by the other suspects in the case (who were also
covered in bruises).
The first trial, which took place before the juryless Special
Criminal Court, became notorious because one of the three judges
kept falling asleep. The same judge was found dead at home one
morning and the trial was abandoned after 65 days -- the longest
trial ever in the history of the state. A new trial began and,
during one weekend adjournment with McNally, Breatnach and Kelly
out on bail, Kelly disappeared. Kelly fled to the United States.
A year later, he returned to Ireland voluntarily and was
arrested. In May 1983, following the Supreme Court's decision to
uphold his conviction, Kelly began a hunger strike which lasted
38 days. One year later, in July 1984, Kelly was released `on
humanitarian grounds'.
Since his release, Kelly has not only campaigned for his
conviction to be squashed, but has fought for an inquiry into the
circumstances surrounding his conviction and has added his voice
to the growing calls for a new procedure to investigate
miscarriages of justice. In June the Irish government offered
Kelly IRÃ75,000 in compensation. Kelly claims that fighting his
case has cost more than IRÃ100,000.
Statewatch vol 2 no 4, July/August 1992