The High Court postponed JRM’s surrender under a European arrest warrant until the final determination of charges against him in Ireland. If he is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, surrender is postponed until he is no longer required to serve any part of the sentence.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Michael Peart on 16 December 2009, concerned the effect of a District Court decision to strike out an earlier charge sheet. The Supreme Court had ordered in February 2009 that surrender be postponed until JRM’s conviction or acquittal for a specified offence under section 246 of the Children Act 2001. If convicted and sentenced, surrender was to be postponed until he no longer had to serve the sentence.
That earlier charge sheet was struck out on 27 May 2009. The same offence was then included in a replacement charge sheet, alongside further charges. The six charges, including five child-cruelty charges and one rape charge, were sent forward for trial under Bill Number CCC 43/2009. The judgment said the trial date was set for 12 April 2010.
For JRM, counsel Kieran Kelly argued that striking out the original charge sheet ended the postponement. On that reasoning, the surrender order took effect, and surrender should have occurred within ten days. He submitted that the order had since lapsed and could not now be postponed under section 18 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2001.
Mr Justice Peart rejected that argument. He distinguished the striking out of a charge sheet from an acquittal for the offence itself: the replacement charge sheet concerned the same offence, with a more specific date range and a stated location. The judge held that the Supreme Court’s postponement had not lapsed because JRM had not been convicted or acquitted of that offence. The underlying surrender order therefore continued to apply.
The judge said a further postponement was strictly unnecessary for the offence covered by the replacement charge sheet, but that there was no bar to postponing surrender in relation to the other charges. He made the order sought under section 18, postponing surrender until the Irish charges were finally determined and, if JRM was sentenced to imprisonment, until he had completed the term he was required to serve.
The judgment did not determine the criminal charges or make findings on their allegations.