The High Court has ordered the surrender of a man to Poland under a European Arrest Warrant seeking enforcement of three prison sentences for 12 offences. Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo made the order under section 16 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003 after dismissing the respondent’s objections.
The warrant, dated 4 April 2016, sought enforcement of sentences imposed by Polish courts in 2012, 2013 and 2014: 18 months, two years and two years’ imprisonment respectively. The court said the full terms remained to be served. The respondent was arrested in Ireland on 29 April 2021 and brought before the High Court that day. The warrant was produced on 10 May 2021.
The respondent disputed whether two offences in the 2013 case had equivalents under Irish law. One concerned possession of tools used to produce or process narcotic drugs. The other concerned possession of ammunition, described as propellant powder, without a required licence. The judge found correspondence for the tools offence with possession of articles connected with certain drug-trafficking offences under section 183 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, as amended. He found the firearms allegation corresponded with possession of ammunition under the Firearms Act 1925.
A separate objection concerned the 18-month sentence imposed in 2012. The respondent had not attended or been represented at the hearing that imposed it. The judge found that he had taken part in earlier proceedings, agreed to submit voluntarily to a specified penalty, and supplied an address for service. Notice of the hearing was collected at that address by his wife. The judge said the evidence did not establish definitively that the respondent personally received notice.
The judge was satisfied that the respondent knew the nature and duration of the agreed sentence and that his defence rights had been adequately protected. He dismissed the objection under section 45 of the 2003 Act and Article 4A of the Framework Decision. The judgment also records that no objection remained under section 45 for the other two cases, and that a transfer-of-sentence issue raised in the notice of objection was not pursued.
The court concluded that surrender was not barred under Part 3 or another provision of the Act. The order is for surrender to the Republic of Poland; the judgment does not determine any further proceedings there.