The High Court has ordered the surrender of Jelena Vozņuka to Latvia to face prosecution over an alleged unauthorised entry into a rented apartment in August 2005.
A Latvian European Arrest Warrant alleged that Ms Vozņuka, acting as an authorised representative of the landlord, arranged for workers to enter an apartment occupied by tenant Ieva Viktorija Mizane after an earlier attempt to obtain an eviction order had failed.
According to the warrant and additional information supplied by the Latvian court, the apartment door was forced open, the gas meter was dismantled and the lock was replaced. Latvian authorities alleged that Ms Mizane had not consented to the entry and that her tenancy remained in force.
Ms Vozņuka opposed surrender solely on the issue of “correspondence”. Under European Arrest Warrant law, that meant the High Court had to determine whether the alleged acts would also amount to an offence if committed in Ireland.
Her lawyers argued that the events amounted to a civil landlord-and-tenant dispute rather than a criminal offence. They pointed to the landlord's consent to the entry, the alleged presence of municipal police and information from Latvia stating that Ms Vozņuka's intention could not be conclusively established from the criminal file.
Mr Justice Michael Peart rejected that argument in relation to section 11 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994. He held that a landlord's consent did not prevent an entry from being a trespass where the apartment remained lawfully occupied by a tenant who had not consented.
The judge also found it reasonable to infer from the alleged circumstances that Ms Vozņuka entered intending to have the gas meter dismantled, which amounted to an intention to interfere unlawfully with property.
As those elements established correspondence with an Irish offence, the court did not need to decide whether the allegations also corresponded with offences of trespass causing fear or burglary.
The High Court therefore ordered Ms Vozņuka's surrender to Latvia for prosecution.