The High Court has ordered Tomasz Feński’s surrender to Poland to serve a six-month prison sentence imposed in road traffic proceedings there.
In a judgment delivered on 16 November 2020, Mr Justice Paul Burns dismissed the respondent’s objections and made a surrender order under section 16(1) of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003. The order concerns a warrant issued in May 2008 to enforce the sentence. A separate European arrest warrant concerning other matters had been withdrawn.
The Polish warrant related to an incident on 10 May 2003 in Skarszewy. It alleged that Feński drove a Fiat 126p while intoxicated, with alcohol recorded at 1.35 per mille in exhaled air, despite a two-year prohibition on driving imposed by a court in 2002. The Irish court found the conduct corresponded both to driving without an effective driving licence and to drink driving offences under Irish law.
Feński’s objections initially argued that the warrant lacked sufficient details, that the alleged conduct did not correspond to an offence under Irish law, and that the sentence was imposed in his absence without meeting the statutory requirements. After receiving further information from the Polish judicial authority, his counsel conceded that the warrant’s details were sufficient. The judge dismissed the remaining correspondence objection, finding equivalent Irish offences were established.
In an affidavit, Feński said he had been stopped by police, taken a breath test and admitted guilt, but denied receiving notice of a court date, attending court or appointing a lawyer. He said he first learned of the six-month sentence after receiving notice in Ireland in June 2015.
Polish authorities supplied information stating that he had appeared in person at the trial. After seeking further information in response to his affidavit, the High Court accepted that he had appeared at trial on 5 March 2004, when the sentence was imposed. The judge therefore found the requirements for surrender in an in-absentia case had been met and dismissed that objection.
The court also found that no other statutory bar to surrender applied and that the minimum gravity requirement was met, noting that the full six-month sentence remained to be served. Feński had been in custody since 9 July 2020, after a bench warrant issued when he failed to attend a scheduled hearing in 2015 was executed.