Malicious Injuries (Amendment) Act, 1986

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Proof in relation to malicious acts of certain organisations.

3.—(1) Where, as respects damage caused to property after the passing of this Act, the appropriate chief superintendent is of opinion that the act from which the damage resulted was committed maliciously by a person acting on behalf of or in connection with an organisation referred to in section 5 (1) (a) (inserted by this Act) of the Principal Act, he shall, if requested so to do by any person for the purpose of making an application to the court for compensation under the Acts in respect of the damage, give a certificate signed by him and so stating to the person and the certificate shall be admissible in any court as evidence that the act was committed maliciously by a person acting as aforesaid.

(2) The appropriate chief superintendent shall not be required to disclose in any proceedings the information (or its source) on which a certificate under subsection (1) is based.

(3) A document purporting to be a certificate under this section and to be signed by the appropriate chief superintendent shall be deemed, unless the contrary is shown, to be such a certificate and to be so signed.

(4) In this section “appropriate chief superintendent”, in relation to a certificate under this section, means the chief superintendent of the Garda Síochána who was, at the time of the signing of the certificate, the divisional officer of the Garda Síochána division in which is situated the appropriate Garda Síochána station for the purpose of the service of a preliminary notice under section 8 of the Principal Act in relation to the relevant damage.