The High Court has ordered Daniel Mullan committed to prison while he awaits the Minister’s order on his extradition to the United States, where he is wanted for trial on four alleged offences involving child sexual exploitation and child pornography.
In a judgment delivered on 14 December 2018, Ms Justice Donnelly found that the statutory and treaty requirements for extradition had been met and rejected all of Mullan’s objections. The order is a step in the extradition process; the court did not determine whether he committed the alleged offences.
The US allegations are that Mullan sexually exploited a minor to produce visual depictions, transported a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity, and possessed child pornography in two counts. The judgment summarised evidence described in affidavits from US officials, including accounts attributed to two witnesses and material allegedly found during searches. These were allegations supporting the extradition request, not findings that the conduct occurred.
Mullan argued that the alleged conduct did not correspond to offences under Irish law. The court concluded that, if committed in Ireland, the acts described would correspond to offences under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. It also found the request contained sufficient detail about the alleged offences and met the minimum-gravity requirement.
The court rejected his argument that his medical conditions created a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in US custody. It said the evidence he presented did not establish such a risk, and considered information from US authorities about prison medical care persuasive. It also rejected his objections based on fair-trial concerns, personal and family rights, the possibility of prosecution in Ireland, and the circumstances of his arrest.
The judgment records that Mullan had serious health and mobility difficulties, but found that the evidence did not show extradition would breach his rights. It concluded that the public interest in bringing a person accused of serious offences to trial outweighed the private interests he had put forward.
The court’s order commits Mullan to prison to await the Minister’s decision on extradition. The judgment does not state that the Minister had made that decision.