IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By Michael Brennan
02 December 2005
A former nun who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a young girl was yesterday declared the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Nora Wall (57) was convicted in 1999 along with a homeless man of the attack on the girl at St Michael's Childcare Centre in Cappoquin, Co Waterford on an unknown date in 1987 or 1988.
But the conviction was quashed days after the verdict after it emerged that a witness at the trial had been called contrary to the Director of Public Prosecution's direction.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday, Justice Nicholas Kearns, presiding, said Ms Wall should not have to wait a minute longer for the verdict.
"The court is quite satisfied there are newly discovered facts which show there has been a miscarriage of justice in this case," he said.