Man convicted of raping woman with Downs brings case

A man convicted of raping a woman with down syndrome has brought High Court proceedings against the State aimed at quashing findings he was in breach of prison discipline.

Faisal Ellahi received sanctions in July and August 2015 from prison authorities after they determined he breached prison rules while remanded in custody to Midlands Prison, Portlaoise, prior to his trial before the Central Criminal Court.

The breaches include an allegation that, on June 30th 2015, he disobeyed an order from a prison officer to stop shouting and banging on the back of the cell door.

As soon as the door was locked again, he started banging and shouting again, causing other inmates to shout and bang on their doors, it is alleged. He was then transferred to a special observation cell.

Arising from the incident, he was found guilty of breach of the rules by a prison governor and sanctioned by not being allowed engage in evening recreation for 28 days.

He was also found to have breached prison rules on July 12th arising out of a complaint he was involved in a fight with another prisoner. He was again sanctioned by a prison governor.

On August 16th, he was also alleged to have abused a prison officer.

Because of his previous breaches, he received sanctions including being required to wear prison clothes for 28 days and not being allowed engage in other activities, including use of the gym.

In his High Court action, he claims he had said on each occasion he wanted to appeal findings against him but those appeals were not properly dealt with and were not heard or determined by the prison authorities.

Those alleged failures amount to breach of the prison rules and of his rights to natural justice and fair procedures, he claims.

His judicial review proceedings are against the governor of the Midlands Prison, the Irish Prison Service, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland, and the Attorney General.

The court is asked to make various orders, including quashing the findings against him. He is also seeking various declarations and damages.

Permission to bring the proceedings has been granted and the case is due before the High Court early next month.

Last December, Ellahi (34), from Haripur in Pakistan, was found guilty by a Central Criminal Court jury of rape and sexual assault of a woman on June 12th 2013. His victim was stopped by Ellah on a street after becoming separated from her mother and he took her to his house and raped her. Ellahi had denied the charges.