A MAN wanted in connection with the deaths of two children near Budapest more than 10 years ago is to appeal to the Supreme Court against a High Court order for his extradition to Hungary.
The High Court was told yesterday that Ciaran Tobin (46), Offington Drive, Sutton, Dublin, will lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court against last month’s ruling by Mr Justice Michael Peart. The matter will be mentioned before Mr Justice Peart again today.
The Hungarian authorities are seeking the surrender of Mr Tobin – who was working in Hungary for Irish Life at the time – on foot of claims a car driven by him mounted a footpath in a built-up area near the Hungarian capital on April 9th, 2000, as a result of which two children died.
Marton Zoltai (5) and Petra Zoltai (2) were respectively standing on the footpath and sitting in a pram at the time and were both killed.
It is claimed Mr Tobin’s wife and two Irish friends were also in the car at the time and, the following day, all attended a police station and made a statement with the assistance of a Hungarian lawyer.
Mr Tobin was later sentenced to three years in prison which appeared to have been reduced to 18 months on appeal.
Extradition proceedings brought against him in 2007 were dismissed after the High Court found, under the relevant provision of the European Arrest Warrant Act 2003, he had not “fled” Hungary after the incident.
The High Court accepted Mr Tobin’s arguments that he and his family left Hungary on November 30th, 2000, following the completion of his work there and he never “fled”. The Supreme Court upheld that decision in 2008.
The 2003 Act was later amended so as to remove, in relation to European arrest warrants (EAW) issued after August 2009, the requirement for the Minister for Justice to satisfy the High Court that a person has “fled” from the issuing state before serving a sentence.
Those amendments were signed into law in July 2010 and in September 2010 the Hungarian authorities issued a new EAW, in exactly the same terms as the first warrant, seeking Mr Tobin’s surrender.