The High Court ordered Patrick McGinley’s surrender to Northern Ireland for prosecution under a European Arrest Warrant, after rejecting his objections. The order was made on 20 October 2015 by Mr Justice Noonan. The judgment records a surrender order; it does not determine whether McGinley committed the alleged offences.
The warrant, issued by Belfast Magistrates Court on 9 December 2014, concerns four offences alleged to have occurred on 15 November 2011: hijacking a vehicle, damaging it, common assault and damaging a police vehicle. The court endorsed the warrant for execution on 13 January 2015. McGinley was arrested at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin 7 on 10 February 2015.
According to the warrant’s account, a taxi driver picked up three male passengers in the early hours of 15 November. They allegedly hijacked the taxi and assaulted the driver; the vehicle was later found damaged. The warrant also alleges that McGinley damaged a police vehicle after his arrest. These are allegations set out in the warrant, not findings of guilt.
McGinley objected on several grounds, including that surrender would expose him to inhumane or degrading treatment, that delay would prevent a fair trial, that surrender would be disproportionate, and that he would face discrimination because of his Traveller ethnic origin. He also argued that the offences did not correspond sufficiently with offences under Irish law and that potential proceedings in Ireland barred surrender. The judge said McGinley had provided no affidavit or other evidence supporting his first four objections. He accepted that the Irish offence particulars supplied by the Chief State Solicitor corresponded sufficiently, and that a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed no related prosecution was being considered or was pending in Ireland.
McGinley further argued that the warrant’s narrative did not adequately connect him to the alleged conduct. The judge noted that the warrant did not identify which of the three men was said to have carried out the hijacking. But it alleged that all three chased and assaulted the taxi driver, which the judge considered showed they were acting together. The warrant specifically identified McGinley as allegedly responsible for damaging the police vehicle.
Applying the approach in a cited Supreme Court case, the judge said the surrender court was not required to assess whether the evidence established a prima facie case; guilt or innocence would be for trial in the requesting jurisdiction. He found a sufficient link to McGinley for all four alleged offences and ordered surrender under the warrant.