Sophie Toscan du Plantier case: Failure to deliver justice ‘a deep shame,’ says Micheál Martin

The “failure to deliver justice” for Sophie Toscan du Plantier, should “always be a deep shame for us,” Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.

The Tánaiste was critical of the Irish justice system in that case and others at the launch of a new book about the murder of French woman Sophie Toscan du Plantier by journalist Senan Molony.

Molony arrived in West Cork on St Stephen’s Day in 1996, just a few days after Toscan du Plantier was found brutally murdered outside her holiday home.

Speaking at the launch of Sophie: The Final Verdict, in Hodges Figgis, on Thursday evening, Martin said the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier was “deeply shocking” and “remains seared into our consciousness”.

“The failure to deliver justice, to hold her murderer to account is and should always be a deep shame for us. The terrible anguish of her family and all who knew her was made much worse by the fact that our system proved incapable of meeting its responsibilities to Sophie,” he said.

The book “goes into the many twists and turns in the handling of this, so there is no purpose in me trying to repeat them. However, there is no doubt that this case continues to give us serious cause for reflection,” Mr Martin said.

“No one expects that any system of justice can operate without errors – or that the pursuit of justice can never lead to another injustice . . . However, when you look at the details of this case and the scale of the evidence, it is very, very hard to understand why this evidence was not put before a jury,” he added.

An “honest conversation” was needed about why crimes which can be processed much quicker in other democratic societies seem “endlessly delayed here,” Mr Martin said.

“Look at the rapid conviction of rioters in other countries and compare this to our response to riots here . . . Yes we have resources issues, but most democratic countries also have resource issues. We could dramatically increase the resources at every level and we would still operate principles and practice which delay justice, often excessively,” he said.