A FORMER nun has won a six-year legal battle for damages after being wrongfully convicted of rape.
Nora Wall, a former Sisters of Mercy nun from Co. Waterford, has settled her claim, which included punitive and exemplary damages in the High Court, Dublin.
No settlement figure has been disclosed but it is understood she will receive more than €500,000 (£390,000) in compensation.
A previous offer of €75,000 (£59,000) had been rejected by Ms Wall as inadequate.
Yesterday, Ms Wall’s lawyers and the defendants, the Justice Minister and the State, told the court that the case had been settled, The Irish independent reports.
The compensation proceedings had begun in 2010.
The claim dates back to 1999 when Ms Wall, then known as Sister Dominic, became the first woman to be convicted of rape in Ireland. She was also the only person in the history of the state to be convicted on repressed memory evidence.
She served four days of a life sentence in July 1991. Her conviction was quashed when it emerged that a prosecution witness had been called to testify against the direction of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The same witness later admitting to fabricating evidence.
In light of this she was officially declared a miscarriage of justice victim in 2005.
In 2014, during the compensation proceedings, Mr Justice Michael White directed the State to provide a range of documents to Ms Wall’s lawyers.
These documents included the reasons, at that point undisclosed, why the witness for the prosecution should never have been called to trial.
