A DISTRICT Court judge yesterday took the rare step of ordering that an entire incest trial be heard behind closed doors.
The decision by Judge Michael McMahon, who was appointed at the beginning of this month, was attacked by a senior law lecturer as unacceptable.
Judge McMahon made the ruling in the case of a man accused of incest involving his blind teenage daughter, who is now 18.
The judge said he made the order in the interests of justice, bearing in mind the age of the girl and the nature of the case.
But his ruling means that all the evidence in the trial will be heard in secret, despite having earlier invoked the sections of the law that have always been used to protect the identity of victims in such cases.
The decision angered legal and constitutional experts who feel that the basic principle of open justice is being increasingly eroded by judges.