Two Dublin men wanted in Holland in connection with the discovery of a dismembered body in an Amsterdam canal will have aspects of their extradition case determined by the Supreme Court.
Dutch authorities had sought the surrender of Kenneth Brunell (27) from Palmerstown and Barry McArdle (27) from Drimnagh who were arrested by gardaí on foot of extradition warrants issued in 2011.
The men are wanted to face trial in connection with the death of Keith Ennis, aged 29, from Walkinstown, whose dismembered body was found in an Amsterdam canal in 2009. Mr Ennis was on the run from gardaí at the time.
His body parts were dumped in a suitcase in a canal on the northern outskirts of Amsterdam after he was stabbed to death.
A third man, Philip County (31) from Foxdene Gardens in Lucan was extradited to Holland from Ireland in April 2011.
Mr Justice John Edwards ordered their surrender to Holland last month but lawyers for the pair argued there was an abuse of process by Dutch authorities in drafting a prosecution instead of an investigation in order to secure their extradition.
Counsel for Mr McArdle, Patrick McGrath SC, had said it was a very unusual case and that he had “not come across a case where a prosecutor is so in control of the process”.
“Here you have an entire absence of independence and an entire absence of scrutiny,” Mr McGrath had argued.
Mr Justice Edwards agreed there may be a problem in Irish law with that point and he sent forward a question on judicial oversight and scrutiny in respect of the European Arrest Warrant to the Supreme Court.
McArdle, who is serving a domestic sentence and is required to serve all of that term in the state was remanded in custody to November 9th 2017 but Mr Justice Edwards postponed the order pending his release.
If he is to be released early on temporary release or due to his entitlement to remission on good behaviour, the judge said, “the expectation is that somebody would come into court a number of days before his release date and request the termination of the postponement order”.
He directed that Mr Brunell be remanded in custody to Cloverhill prison pending his surrender but ordered that he not be surrendered while the appeal was pending.
Mr Justice Edwards thanked counsel for their assistance in these “difficult cases”.