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High Court grants judicial review of a decision by a District Court judge to refuse jurisdiction to hear by summary trial three charges of breaching reporting restrictions concerning the publication of material that identified two boys charged with murder, on the grounds that: (a) where jurisdiction had already been accepted by another District Court judge after a consideration of the facts in each of the relevant cases, the District Court judge in question should have considered the facts of each case individually before deciding to refuse jurisdiction; and (b) in deciding to refuse jurisdiction in ten cases in a single decision, the accused could not be satisfied that the judge had adequately directed his mind to the issue of jurisdiction in each individual case.
Judicial review - charge of publication of material identifying children charged with murder - breach of reporting restrictions - s. 252 of the Children Act, 2001 - District Court procedure - outline of facts heard by judge for purpose of determining jurisdiction - hybrid offence - jurisdiction accepted - deemed suitable for summary trial - whether different judge entitled to hear outline of facts before taking any further step - new judge requested to hear alleged facts - decision to refuse jurisdiction - factual differences between three cases - whether District Court judge should have been joined as party - whether any allegation of mala fides or misconduct on the part of the judge - jurisdiction of District Court to hear offences of a minor nature - whether any new evidence or material that gave rise to a new determination of the issue.
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