McGlinchey v Wren
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Judge | O'HIGGINS C.J. |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1983 |
| Neutral Citation | 1982 WJSC-SC 3087 |
| Docket Number | (149-82),[S.C. No. 149 of 1982] |
| Court | Supreme Court |
| Date | 01 January 1983 |
1982 WJSC-SC 3087
THE SUPREME COURT
JUDGMENT delivered the 7th day of December 1982by O'HIGGINS C.J.
On the 2nd February 1982 Dominic McGlinchey, the Plaintiff herein, was brought before District Justice Mahon, a Justice of the District Court, on a warrant for his arrest issued by a judicial authority in Northern Ireland, on a complaint that on the 28th March 1977 at Toomebridge in the County of Antrim, he had murdered Mrs. Hester McMullan. This warrant had been endorsed for execution pursuant to section 43 of the Extradition Act 1965(the Act) by the Defendant Laurence Wren, Deputy Commissioner of the Garda Siochana. The District Justice on that day made an Order pursuant to section 47 of the Act that the Plaintiff be delivered by Carrickarnon, Co. Louth, into the custody of a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, but as is required by the Act, heallowed the statutory period of fifteen days to enable the Plaintiff to make an application pursuant to the provisions of section 48 of theAct.
On the 9th February 1982 a Special Summons was issued in the High Court on behalf of the Plaintiff seeking his release pursuant to section 50 of the Act. In the affidavit grounding his claim the Plaintiff swore that the offence referred to in the warrant was a political offence or an offence connected with a political offence. He also asserted his belief that if removed from the State pursuant to the warrant he would be prosecuted or detained for a political offence or an offence connected with a political offence. He stated further that at the time of the murder in respect of which his delivery was sought he "was engaged in activities in Northern Ireland on behalf of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and that responsibility for the offence referred to in the said warrant was claimed by the said organisation". He exhibited an except from a copy of the "BallymenaGuardian" containing an account of the murder and setting out a press release, by the organisation referred to, claiming responsibility for the murder, a copy of a "wanted" poster which referred to him, a further article in the "Ballymena Guardian" referring to wanted men, in which he was named, and a charge sheet preferred against one Thomas Oliver Mawhinney in respect of the offence of withholding information in relation to his, the Plaintiff's, involvement in terrorist activities, including the murder of one David McQuillan. The Special Summons came on for hearing before Mr. Justice Gannon in the High Court on the 17th May 1982. He refused the order for release sought. Against this refusal this appeal has been brought by theplaintiff.
The procedure which led to the plaintiff's arrest and to the lodging of the claim now under consideration in this appeal is provided for in Part III of the Act which Part (ss. 41 to 45) applies to Northern Ireland, England and Wales, Scotland, The Isle of Man and theChannel Islands. Section 50 (2) under which a direction for the release of a person ordered to be detained and delivered order under section 47 may be made by the Court, is in the following terms:
"(2) A direction under this section may be given by the High Court where the Court is of opinion that -"
(a) the offence to which the warrant relates is -
(i) a political offence or an offence connected with a political offence, or
(ii) an offence under military law which is an offence under ordinary criminal law, or
(iii) a revenue offence, or
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