Irish government to overturn miscarriage of justice - 135 years late

Scene from Murdair Mhám Trasna, a dramatised documentary for TG4

The Irish government has announced this week it wants to overturn a notorious miscarriage of justice - 135 years after the event, the Irish World reports.

The governmen has appointed an expert on posthumous pardons to re-examine the case of the Mám Trasna murders of 1882, which led to the hangings of three men and life sentences for five others. On 17 August 1882 five members of the Joyce family were murdered in their home in Mám Trasna, a remote area on the Galway-Mayo border.

Eight local men were convicted of the crime and sentenced to hang, based on what later emerged to be perjured evidence given by informers and alleged eyewitnesses, who received £1,250 - equivalent to about €160,000 today.

The decision follows a lengthy campaign by Catholic peer Lord Alton of Liverpool, whose mother was a native Irish speaker from the Mám Trasna area. He campaigned for many years with fellow Liverpool peer, the late Eric Lubbock or Baron Avebury who died last year.

Lord Alton said those charged with the murders had no understanding of the court proceeding in English. To have a fair trial, you need to be able to understand the accusations that are being made against you. You need to be able to understand the evidence being given by your accusers, and you need to be able to understand the directions of the judge. "If you can't understand any of these it makes it impossible to have a fair trial," he said.

The story was also exposed in a television documentary drama: Murdair Mhám Trasna, screened on TG4 in March this year.

To read on see: www.theirishworld.com/justice-135-years-late/