The High Court has deferred its decision on whether Sebastian Gorczyca should be surrendered to Poland under a European Arrest Warrant, pending answers from the Polish issuing court about possible reductions to cumulative sentences.
In a judgment delivered on 10 February 2020, Mr Justice Binchy found that surrender was prohibited in connection with convictions under case II K 280/06. The respondent had not attended the trial at which his guilt was determined, and the statutory requirements for surrender in those circumstances were not met. The sentence from that case had later been combined with sentences for other convictions, and the court said it could not separate the prohibited part from the combined penalty.
The judge also ruled that one incident in case II K 222/04 could not support surrender. The information provided described Mr Gorczyca as helping another person sell oil that the other person had obtained under a contract but had not paid for. The court said the particulars did not establish conduct that would amount to an offence in Ireland. That incident’s sentence was combined with sentences for seven other incidents, which the court said could not be disentangled.
The warrant sought surrender in connection with two judgments: a cumulative judgment under II K 15/14 and a judgment under II K 222/04. The court considered whether the described conduct corresponded to offences under Irish law where the European Arrest Warrant did not clearly identify which offences relied on the European Union list of categories that do not require a correspondence assessment. It found correspondence for several described acts, including car thefts and acts involving deception to obtain goods, credit or money. It did not decide that every offence in the warrant met the requirements for surrender.
The court also addressed the respondent’s absence from earlier proceedings. It accepted the information provided about notice and representation at the 2014 cumulative sentence hearing. But it found the absence at the 2008 trial under II K 280/06 was not covered by the exceptions in section 45 of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003.
Rather than make a final surrender order, the judge directed that further information be requested from the issuing court. He asked whether Mr Gorczyca could apply to have the cumulative sentences reduced to reflect offences for which surrender was refused, whether such reductions were assured, and whether any application would involve an oral hearing with legal representation. The court said it would direct surrender for the other offences if assured that the sentences would be reduced proportionately. The judgment therefore left the surrender decision unresolved.