A foreign national who failed to give evidence at the trial last April of his jailed brother-in-law for threatening to kill his wife should be reported to the immigration authorities, a judge has said.
Ahmad Elsayed, who was to give evidence in the trial of Hassan Hassan (38), told Judge Frank O'Donnell yesterday that the prosecution said it would tell his wife, Rawaa Hassan, when he was needed but he had divorced her under Islamic law some weeks earlier and could not approach her or the family house for 40 days.
Garda Nigel Petrie told Judge O'Donnell that a medical certificate had been produced which claimed Mr Elsayed was suffering from "septic tonsils and a chest infection" from April 24th, when he failed to appear in court, until May 7th, but further investigation showed he actually returned to work on May 1st last.
Hassan's wife, Baiba Saulite, a Latvian national, was shot dead at her home in Swords in November 2006. Hassan had been jailed for four years in March 2006 for his role in a plan to export stolen vehicles to the Middle East and for two years in December 2006 for abducting their children.
Last April, he directed a jury to find Hassan not guilty of threatening to kill his sister.
Judge O'Donnell said: "The people in charge of immigration should look closely at his status since his divorce is not recognised under Irish law."