The High Court has ordered Barney McGinley’s surrender to Northern Ireland for prosecution on four charges, rejecting his objections to a European Arrest Warrant.
In a judgment delivered on 22 July 2015, Mr Justice Noonan said the warrant was issued by Belfast Magistrates Court on 9 December 2014 and endorsed for execution by the High Court on 13 January 2015. McGinley was arrested at Dublin’s Criminal Courts of Justice on 3 February 2015. The alleged offences date to 15 November 2011. He was charged the following day and admitted to bail on 18 November. The judgment says it was alleged he absconded while on bail, causing delay in bringing the surrender application.
McGinley argued that surrender was barred because he would face discrimination and inhumane or degrading treatment as a member of the travelling community; because the Northern Ireland charges did not correspond to offences under Irish law; and because there was insufficient evidence about whether the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) would bring proceedings against him in Ireland.
The judge rejected the discrimination objection. He said McGinley’s affidavit assertion that he would be treated less favourably and would not receive a fair trial was unsupported by expert evidence or independent data, and did not overcome the statutory presumption that the issuing state would comply with its obligations.
The charges were described as hijacking a vehicle, criminal damage, common assault and theft. The warrant alleged that three men hijacked a taxi, assaulted its driver, and damaged the vehicle. It also alleged that a bottle of wine was stolen from a nearby restaurant and that the restaurant proprietor identified McGinley in CCTV footage. These were allegations in the warrant, not findings on guilt.
The defence submitted that the warrant narrative did not sufficiently link McGinley to some of the alleged offences. The judge found the account showed the three men acting together and that the warrant provided a sufficient link to McGinley across all four charges. He also found that the offences corresponded to offences under Irish law and met the statutory gravity threshold. He said the surrender court was not required to determine guilt or assess whether the prosecution had established a prima facie case; those matters were for trial in the requesting jurisdiction.
On the DPP issue, a letter to McGinley’s solicitors said the office had received no file from An Garda Síochána and was not, and would not be, considering proceedings against him for the four offences. The judge found that statement clear and rejected the objection under section 42.
The court ordered surrender under the warrant for prosecution. The judgment did not determine whether McGinley was guilty of any charge.