A MAN appealing his extradition to Hungary to serve a sentence over a car incident which caused the deaths of two children, wants to serve that sentence here, the Supreme Court has been told.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has however refused Ciarán Tobin’s application, Brian Murray SC said on the opening day of Mr Tobin’s appeal against his extradition.
Mr Murray said his client “will do anything to avoid returning [to Hungary]” and wanted to serve his sentence here.
Mr Tobin was granted bail last February pending his Supreme Court appeal but on November 9th, having taken leave of absence from his job, he surrendered his bail and has been in custody since.
Mr Tobin was now based here and did not want to leave his wife and children, Mr Murray said.
Twelve years had passed since the incident and there had been six years of litigation in circumstances where there was no explanation for the large period of delay, Mr Murray added. Mr Tobin was facing financial ruin if he lost this appeal.
Mr Tobin (47), Offington Drive, Sutton, Dublin, is wanted in Hungary in relation to the incident which occurred near Budapest on April 9th, 2000.
In a European arrest warrant seeking his extradition, it is claimed a car driven by Mr Tobin – who was working in Hungary for Irish Life – mounted a footpath as a result of which Marton (5) and Petra Zoltai (2), were killed.
It is claimed Mr Tobin’s wife and two Irish friends were also in the car at the time. The following day, all four attended a police station and made a statement with the assistance of a Hungarian lawyer. Mr Tobin was later sentenced to three years in prison, which appeared to have been reduced to 18 months on appeal.
Extradition proceedings brought against him in 2007 were dismissed after the High Court, under the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, found he had not “fled” Hungary after the incident.
The High Court accepted Mr Tobin and his family left Hungary on November 30th, 2000, following the completion of his work there and he never “fled” Hungary. The Supreme Court upheld that decision in 2008.
In July 2010, the law was amended to remove the requirement that the High Court must be satisfied a person had fled from the state which issued the warrant.
Two months later, the Hungarian authorities issued a new warrant for Mr Tobin who later brought an unsuccessful High Court challenge to this second attempt to extradite him.
He has appealed that decision to the Supreme Court which yesterday heard there were a number of grounds of appeal, including that the second extradition application was an abuse of process.
Mr Murray argued that the Transfer of Execution of Sentences Act 2005 provided, where a person had not fled from another jurisdiction, they could serve their sentence here.
Had these tragic events occurred in Ireland, and a Hungarian citizen was involved, Hungary would not extradite that person back here because there was a lack of reciprocity between the two regimes, Mr Murray also said.
The court also had to consider the delay of nearly 12 years since the incident and the fact that evidence, such as the car involved, had not been preserved and was no longer available for inspection.
The appeal continues.