McMahon v Leahy

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Court: Supreme Court
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1985
• Docket Number: [1983 No. 186 Sp.]
• Date: 01 January 1985

(H.C., S.C.)

McMahon

and

Leahy

Equality before the law - Group escape from foreign custody -Escapers entering the State - Extradition of four escapers sought - Successful defences based on political nature of escape - Extraditions refused - Extradition of fifth escaper sought - Defence based on allegation of political nature of escape - The State inhibited from controverting claim of fifth escaper - Extradition Act 1965 (No. 17), ss. 44, 50 - Constitution of Ireland, 1937, Art.40.

The plaintiff was found guilty in Northern Ireland on counts of robbery and the unlawful possession of a firearm; he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. While serving his sentence, the plaintiff made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from prison. On the 10 March, 1975, the plaintiff was brought in custody to a courthouse in Northern Ireland to answer a charge that he had attempted to escape from prison; he escaped from the courthouse with four other prisoners and, having crossed the border, he came to reside within the State. On the 4 April, 1975, the four co-escapers were arrested within the State on the strength of warrants issued in Northern Ireland which recited their escapes from the courthouse, and proceedings were instituted under the Extradition Act, 1965, for orders directing them to be delivered into the custody of the Northern Ireland authorities. Each of those four escapers claimed and obtained in the High Court an order directing his release under s. 50 of the Act of 1965 on the ground that his escape from the courthouse in Northern Ireland was a political offence or an offence connected with a political offence. The defendants in those four High Court actions were represented by counsel who were instructed by the Chief State Solicitor; in two of those actions the claim of the escaper to exemption from extradition on the ground of the political nature of his escape was not opposed and, in the other two actions, that claim of the escaper, if opposed, was opposed unsuccessfully. On the 4 February, 1983, a warrant (which recited the plaintiff's escape from the courthouse on the 10 March, 1975) was issued in Northern Ireland for the arrest of the plaintiff and it was endorsed by the defendant for execution within the State. On the 31 March, 1983, the plaintiff was arrested in the State and on the same date the District Court made an order directing that he be delivered into the custody of the Northern Ireland authorities. The plaintiff issued a summons...