A late-night High Court order restraining the deportation of six Nigerians to their homeland on a special charter flight over four months ago was not served on the State prior to the departure of the aircraft, Mr Justice Peart was told yesterday.
He also heard from Mr Patrick McCarthy SC, for the State, that an order of Habeas Corpus directing that the six be presented in the High Court on the following morning was similarly not served on gardaí until the aircraft had left. Mr McCarthy, who appeared with Ms Siobhán Stack, told the court in written submissions that the orders had been granted on an ex-parte basis at 11.30 p.m. on April 6th last.
By the time they were served, the aircraft had in all probability landed in Nigeria after its eight-hour flight.
Garda National Immigration Bureau members told the court yesterday that faxes on the obtaining of the High Court orders would probably not have been seen until between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on April 7th, when the six Nigerians involved had disembarked in Lagos.
They said mobile phones would not have been taken off the deportees until close to the time the aircraft was due to depart.
It was the policy of the immigration bureau to allow contact with their legal representatives should it be requested.
Mr Michael Forde SC, who appears with Mr Kieran Kelly for the six Nigerians, told the court he was seeking a direction from Mr Justice Peart that the existing court order of Mr Justice Gilligan on April 6th be complied with.
He said that even if the arrests of the six were lawful, the original court order, to produce them before the High Court, still existed and had never been complied with.
Legal argument in the case resumes in the High Court again this morning.