Penal warrant

DWCommuter

I don't even know what a penal warrant is, but I unfortunately got roped into a discussion in the pub last night and despite frenetic googling around the table, no answer to the following question could be found. Perhaps it can be clarified here so I can collect a few beers for being right.

A person in the company was fined in court for speeding. They failed to pay the fine and an arrest warrant (apparently called a penal warrant) was issued. That was in September 2008. Somehow through a variety of circumstances they avoided the gardai when they called to the house to collect the fine or execute the warrant. Within the last few days the gardai have paid him a visit and he's arranging to pay the fine. However somebody else in the company claimed that this warrant (dated September 08) is out of date and that these warrants are only valid for six months. (after that the gardai must reapply for a new one) I disagree as Ive never heard of arrest warrants having deadlines on them.

Can anybody shed any light on the matter?

Croc

Penal Warrants are good for six months.

Bench Warrants until executed.

Its normal practice to return the Warrant to the Courts to have it reissued and this will continue every six months until the Warrant is either executed or cancelled because it is uncollectable.

Bosco boy

Croc wrote: »

Penal Warrants are good for six months.

Bench Warrants until executed.

Its normal practice to return the Warrant to the Courts to have it reissued and this will continue every six months until the Warrant is either executed or cancelled because it is uncorrectable.

Correct, if the warrant is now re issued and valid as it is likely to be if the Gaurds are calling again your pal can be arrested and taken to prison for non payment. He should serve the amount of time in custody as specified on the warrant if he is in default of payment. Its normally something like 15 days in default, if he pays the fine when hes arrested he will be released and warrant is deemed executed. Hes unlikely to served more than a few days due to overcrowding. But he might not like the experience.

DWCommuter

Thanks folks. I lost the bet so.

But one interesting fact has come to light. The warrant turned out to be the original when he went up to the station and checked. I advised just paying the damn fine, but the person in question (smartarse) is waiting until its reissued. I doubt the Garda will take too long to do that, now that he has been pissed off.

One would wonder how many fines are paid on foot of these out of date warrants. Its certainly something I never knew about before.

MagicSean

The gardaí don't generally get them reissued if they are being paid. It's a waste of the courts time. They will usually only get them reissued if the person is refusing to pay and going to be lodged in prison.

DWCommuter

k_mac wrote: »

The gardaí don't generally get them reissued if they are being paid. It's a waste of the courts time. They will usually only get them reissued if the person is refusing to pay and going to be lodged in prison.

That makes perfect sense. But if the warrant is out of date, then the person can't be imprisoned on foot of it, so it has to go back to court to be reissued anyway and even if the person is arrested on foot of the reissued warrant, once the fine is paid the whole matter is closed and nobody goes to prison. (according to what Ive read here)

Personally speaking, it would make more sense to have warrants that don't go out of date after 6 months and require reissuing. I assume reissuing of the warrant is a quick proceedure, otherwise its a bit of a loophole.

Our man in Havana

Sometimes these matters get forgotten and warrants simply lapse.

There would be no chance of a person being imprisoned on foot of an expired warrant as it would give rise to an immediate writ of habeas corpus and the resulting civil suit for unlawful imprisonment.

Croc

This is how Penal warrants work

You get convicted in court Judge makes an order e.g. €100 fine 28 days to pay 5 days in default.

Courts Office send a notice to defendant to pay the fine at the Courts Office, (i believe thats when the 28 days starts but open to correction)

If defendant ignore this notice then they issue a Penal Warrant which gets forwarded to Gardai to execute i.e collect the fine. If defendant fails or refuses to pay the money it become a committal warrant namely the defendant gets lodged in prison for (in my example 5days).

If the fine is paid the Gardai return the warrant and money to courts, warrant is then cancelled by courts.

Hope this makes it clearer

445279.ie

All correct Croc, except the 28 days to pay start from the date of court

Bosco boy

Hope they go for him bright and early at a time that least suits him, should be re issued in a few days.

Our man in Havana

Do they keep reissuing and reissuing, or do they just get forgotten after a year or so?

Bosco boy

Haddockman wrote: »

Do they keep reissuing and reissuing, or do they just get forgotten after a year or so?

There may be many reasons why they need to be re issued, the person may have left the jurisdiction or simply changed address with no forwarding address, but once the gardai know where they are they can re issue it even if it has lapsed for some time, evidence of the efforts to execute the warrant may be required by the judge but not always

Reloc8

This is a good example of how these things can end up in practice

http://www.courts.ie/judgments.nsf/6681dee4565ecf2c80256e7e0052005b/e8904440164f5fd58025761c00388fda?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,warrants