A FORMER garda has been given 24 hours to leave South Africa after a three day High Court battle in Cape Town. Agreement was reached in judge's chambers yesterday to allow the man to leave the country voluntarily, without police escort.
The Irishman, who is wanted for questioning by the Garda in connection with an assault on two women last year, was traced to South Africa by gardai working in conjunction with Interpol and South African police.
The man has to leave South Africa by midnight tonight or risk arrest under the Aliens Control Act, and face compulsory repatriation to Ireland.
The former garda's lawyer, Mr Gary Eisenberg, told The Irish Times yesterday that his client, who has been living in South Africa since last September, tried to leave Cape Town for Ireland via Europe on Saturday night, but was stopped by police.
Police from the Aliens Investigation Unit insisted that the Irishman had to be accompanied by police officers, Mr Eisenberg said. The lawyer added that they had refused to return his client's passport.
According to Mr Eisenberg, the investigating officer in the case arrived with three more policemen on Sunday to inform the Irishman that they had to take him to the airport.
Mr Eisenberg said he had to obtain a court order restraining police from putting his client aboard a plane with a police escort. He delivered the order to police at the airport, within minutes of takeoff.
A report in the Cape Times yesterday described how the Irishman's girlfriend and two lawyers "stormed" through the departure hall of Cape Town International Airport to prevent his departure.
Yesterday, Mr Eisenberg applied to a High Court judge for an order allowing his client to leave the country alone and of his own accord.
The Irishman, who won a similarly dramatic reprieve last month when he obtained a special permit to remain in South Africa until March 10th, undertook to leave by midnight tonight.
Mr Eisenberg said last night: "We have got what we wanted. All he wants is to return of his own volition and with dignity."