The High Court has ordered Martin McDermott’s surrender to the United Kingdom for prosecution over allegations of wounding a man and damaging a car in Derry/Londonderry in October 2021. The order followed the court’s rejection of two objections to surrender; it does not determine whether the alleged offences were committed.
The warrant seeks McDermott’s surrender over the alleged unlawful and malicious wounding of James Patrick Mitchell with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and criminal damage to a Volkswagen Golf. Both alleged offences relate to the same incident at Galliagh Park on 20 October 2021, according to the judgment. The warrant was issued by a district judge in Belfast on 19 April 2024.
The judgment recounts the allegation that Mitchell went to the park with his girlfriend after receiving messages from a friend. Mitchell said in a statement that, after he parked, the friend took the car key and stepped away. Two men then allegedly attacked him: one with a bottle and McDermott with an iron bar. Mitchell’s girlfriend asked them to stop, and the friend returned the key. Mitchell drove to Altnagelvin Area Hospital. The judgment lists cuts, abrasions, bruising and swelling that he was reported to have sustained.
The car damage was also alleged to have happened during the attack. Mitchell said a bottle was thrown through the rear windscreen and the offside rear door was kicked. The car belonged to his father. The allegation against McDermott was that he participated in the attack on Mitchell and the car as part of a joint enterprise.
McDermott argued that the warrant and additional information did not adequately describe his alleged involvement in the car damage. The court rejected that objection, saying the account went beyond alleging that he was merely present: it included allegations that he struck Mitchell repeatedly with an iron bar and tried to drag him from the car. The judge said that, if proved, those circumstances could support an inference of a joint enterprise. The court did not require the UK to establish a prima facie case at the surrender stage.
The court also rejected an objection under section 42 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003. McDermott argued that the alleged conduct might be prosecuted in Ireland under the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act 1976. The judge found no evidence that such a prosecution was under way and said section 42 applies where the person is being prosecuted, not where prosecution is only a theoretical possibility.
The judge found that both alleged offences corresponded to offences under Irish law and that the statutory requirements for surrender were met. The court ordered McDermott’s surrender to a person authorised by the UK to receive him.