The Supreme Court ordered the release of Nigerian national Collins B. Oladapo from Cloverhill Prison after finding that the Garda arrest which led to his immigration detention was unlawful.
The court allowed Mr Oladapo’s appeal on March 26, 2009, and directed his release under Article 40.4 of the Constitution. Chief Justice Murray set out the reasons for that decision in a judgment delivered on May 20.
Mr Oladapo had lived at various times in Dundalk with his wife and children. After returning to Ireland in late 2008 without permission to remain, he crossed into Northern Ireland for shopping in February 2009 and was stopped by Garda Philip McGovern after returning to Dundalk.
Mr Oladapo could not produce a passport or immigration registration card. Garda McGovern arrested him under section 13 of the Immigration Act 2004, ostensibly for an immigration offence, and brought him to Dundalk Garda Station. He was later refused permission to land, arrested under separate immigration legislation and ultimately detained in Cloverhill Prison pending removal from the State.
The Supreme Court focused on the purpose of the first arrest. Garda McGovern’s evidence showed that he did not intend to charge Mr Oladapo with the offence for which the section 13 arrest had purportedly been made. His purpose was instead to bring Mr Oladapo into custody so that he could be refused permission to land and detained for removal.
Chief Justice Murray held that a criminal arrest requires a bona fide intention to charge the person with the relevant offence. The initial arrest was therefore unlawful.
Although the later immigration arrest might otherwise have been lawful, the court held that it had been deliberately facilitated by the unlawful deprivation of liberty. That amounted to a fundamental breach of due process.
The detention warrant was consequently invalid. The court stressed that this finding did not imply malice or dishonesty by the Garda member, but reflected the legal consequences of using an unlawful arrest to achieve the later detention.