An Irish businessman wanted in the United States for sexually assaulting a young boy fears he may be subject to savage assaults from prison inmates there if jailed, the High Court was told yesterday.
The man, who cannot be named, is contesting his extradition to the state of New York where he pleaded guilty in 1998 to one count of sexual assault of a boy under 11 years old during the mid-1990s. He claims his extradition would breach his constitutional rights.
The case concluded yesterday and Mr Justice Michael Peart reserved judgment to the next legal term which begins in October.
Yesterday, Michael Forde SC, for the man, said his client has a heart condition and requires medical attention. He fears he is likely to be subject to "savage attacks" by other inmates, attacks which, counsel suggested, might be induced by prison staff because of the nature of the offence.
Counsel said the extradition was being further contested on grounds of delay in seeking it. His client had left the US in 1998 but was arrested on foot of a warrant only in 2006. No explanation has been given about why it took so long to seek the extradition, even though the US authorities have been fully aware of his client's whereabouts since 1999, Dr Forde said.
His client had also felt coerced at his trial into admitting to one charge of sexual assault as part of a plea bargaining process, counsel said. While plea bargaining was commonplace in the US, it was unconstitutional here and was "a modern form of judicial torture" and "a polite modern version of extracting confessions" without using medieval implements such as the rack.
Anthony Collins SC, for the Attorney General, said there was no constitutional impediment to an extradition order being made.
No evidence of coercion had been produced by the man, he said. He had left the US after pleading guilty to one count of sexual assault, but before he was sentenced by the New York court. The offence carried a term of imprisonment of between three and seven years.
In an affidavit, the man said there was no doubt in relation to his innocence. He said he went to New York in the late 1980s and set up a business. During the early 1990s, he was jailed for a year after being found guilty of attempted bribery.
Shortly after his release, he was deported to Ireland but returned to the US.
He said he lived there with a woman and her three children. When he had suggested they move away from New York to establish a new business, the children's father had said he would not let his children be taken from New York and "would get me".
In October 1996, a complaint was made alleging he had sexually abused the children, the applicant said. No complaint was made against him by the children's mother, who suggested to him that her ex-husband got the children to make up the claims, and there was no medical evidence whatsoever of abuse, he said.
After being arrested and detained, the man said he was advised by his lawyer to plead guilty but he had refused as, he said, he had done nothing wrong. However, his lawyer had been "in plea bargaining mode" with the judge and the prosecutor. He said he felt utterly intimidated and pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault. He said he had left the US in 1998, having agreed to voluntary deportation.