A Lebanese national who was accused of threatening to kill his sister has been acquitted by direction of the judge after two prosecution witnesses failed to appear to give evidence.
Hassan Hassan (38) Rivervalley Close, Swords, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a threat to kill or cause Rawaa Hassan serious harm at her home on August 9th, 2005.
Hassan, the former partner of Latvian woman Baibe Saulite, who was shot dead at her home in Swords in November, was jailed for two years last December for the abduction of their two children.
The boys, then aged 2½ years and 17 months, were taken from Ireland to Syria where they were cared for by Hassan's mother until returned to Ireland in September 2005.
Hassan was also convicted of criminal damage in December 2001 and for his role in a plan to export stolen vehicles to the Middle East in March 2006. He is serving a four-year sentence for this crime.
Judge Frank O'Donnell directed the jury of 10 women and two men to find Hassan not guilty because two witnesses, Ms Hassan's husband and her 15-year-old daughter, were not available to give evidence. He said in his opinion it was vital they heard the evidence of these witnesses to allow them to determine the guilt or innocence of Mr Hassan. It was day six of the trial.
Erwan Mill-Arden SC, defending, told the judge in his application for a direction of not guilty that he was entitled to cross-examine Ms Hassan's husband and her daughter and their absence prejudiced his client.
He said that in his statement to gardaí, Ms Hassan's husband claimed that he heard Hassan tell his wife he would strangle her, while her daughter's statement said she called the Garda after hearing her mother crying. The daughter had also acted as an interpreter for her father during his statement to gardaí.
The judge thanked the jury for its service and "great patience" in understanding the difficulties of the trial. He also complimented counsel in the case and said it was not easy for them because of the way the evidence unfolded.
He discharged Hassan from the indictment and cancelled a bench warrant which was issued to allow Ms Hassan's daughter to be brought before the court but asked for Ms Hassan's husband to be presented to explain his refusal to give evidence.
Earlier in the trial, Ms Hassan told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that her brother never threatened to kill her and they had a "small row" when she refused to give him a video of his children. Her daughter had overheard the conversation and mistakenly thought there was something wrong and called the Garda.
Ms Hassan said she and her brother were speaking in Arabic and they always spoke loudly in their native language. She claimed her daughter does not understand Arabic.
She also claimed her Garda statement, in which she said her brother told her "I kill you. You don't know what time I kill you", was inaccurate.