Court to admit expert evidence in Lisa Smith trial

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Special Criminal Court will admit evidence from social scientist Dr Florence Gaub in the trial of Lisa Smith. Mr Justice Tony Hunt said it was for the court to decide whether Smith joined Isis and that Dr Gaub’s opinion did not bind the judges. The proceedings were reported on 11 March 2022.

Smith pleaded not guilty to membership of the unlawful terrorist group Islamic State between 28 October 2015 and 1 December 2019. She also pleaded not guilty to financing terrorism by sending €800 to a named man through a Western Union transfer on 6 May 2015.

Dr Gaub told the trial that Islamic State was the same as Isis and that a person became a member by joining it actively with any type of support. She said support could include sending money or joining Isis-controlled territory.

Mr Justice Hunt said Dr Gaub’s expertise could help the three-judge, non-jury court understand concepts relating to Smith’s decision to travel to Syria. He said Smith’s lawyers had argued that Dr Gaub had a paucity of sources; that did not make her evidence inadmissible but could affect the weight the court gave it when considering its verdicts.

Dr Gaub had left the country after giving evidence in person and was due to continue her testimony by video link on the following Monday.