A Polish man wanted in his native country for the alleged sexual exploitation of children has walked free from the High Court after it rejected a request for his extradition.
The extradition was refused because of the manner in which the Polish authorities presented two extradition warrants, but Mr Justice Michael Peart indicated his decision should not prevent Poland from making a fresh extradition request.
The Polish authorities had been seeking the extradition of Jaroslav Piotr Gotszlik, a married father in his mid-20s, with an address in Belclare, near Tuam, Co Galway. Mr Gotszlik was on bail pending the outcome of the hearing.
The court heard Mr Gotszlik's extradition was sought firstly because he has yet to serve a 16- month prison sentence imposed in 2003 after he was found guilty of an assault, and secondly for the alleged sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
In his judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Peart said that, after careful consideration, he had to refuse to order Mr Gotszlik's extradition and ordered that he be released.
The judge said that, in November 2006, the Polish authorities had issued two separate European arrest warrants, one for each of the offences, rather than one warrant that contained both offences, as invariably happens.
The fact that two warrants were issued was not contemplated by the relevant legislation and had the result that the warrants "conspired against each other". The judge agreed with arguments by counsel for Mr Gotszlik, Kieran Kelly, that because of the existence of the two warrants, an order for extradition would be contrary to the provisions of section 22 of the European Arrest Warrant Act.
The judge said it was not for the court to "plug a gap" to deal with "an anomaly", but rather to apply the law.