A ROMANIAN man cut his left wrist, causing a wound which needed 12 stitches when immigration officials found him on board a ferry which arrived at Rosslare Harbour from France, the High Court was told yesterday.
He was one of three Romanians who arrived from Le Havre but were refused permission to land Mr Justice Quirke was told.
They were returned to France but when the St Killian II arrived back at the French port, they could not be found on board. Some hours after the ship departed again for Rosslare, the three Romanians made their presence known once more.
This information was passed on to the gardai and when the ship arrived at Rosslare at 1pm on May 20th, Gardai McDonald and Hyland waited for them at the foot passenger section.
The Romanians were seen in a crowd of around 100 people. When the gardai boarded the ship the Romanians began to scream.
Mr Iosca Constantin Stefan (19), began cutting his left wrist with a blade, which Garda Hyland knocked from his hand.
He was then brought into a room away from the other passengers where the garda attended to the wound.
He was taken to Wexford General Hospital for treatment while his wife and child were taken to Wexford Garda station and later placed under the care of the South Eastern Health Board.
Pending arrangements for the removal of Mr Stefan from the State, he was detained in custody in Cork prison.
Details of Mr Stefan's arrival in this State were given in an affidavit of the deputy governor of Cork Prison, Mr Liam Metcalfe, opened by Mr Peter Finlay, counsel for Mr Stefan.
Mr Justice Quirke gave leave for an inquiry to be held later this week, under Article 40 of the Constitution, into the legality of his detention. Mr Stefan was detained in Cork prison for 12 days before being allowed out on bail.
Mr Metcalfe said he believed and was advised by counsel that the procedures used by the gardai had been in compliance with the relevant regulations.
It appeared, however, that Mr Stefan's complaint was not directed towards the legality of the original detention order, but rather to establishing that he had a right of asylum in this jurisdiction.
He believed that was a matter which should be dealt with between Mr Stefan and the Minister for Justice.
Mr Terence Lyons, solicitor for Mr Stefan, said in an affidavit that his client had been detained at Rosslare on the grounds that he did not have in his possession lawful documentation for the purpose of landing in this State.
Mr Stefan's mother and father and four of their children resided in Dublin. He had spent a month in France before leaving for Ireland. To his (Mr Lyons's) knowledge, Mr Stefan travelled to Ireland with his wife, Ms Caldras
Auica, and child, Caldara Monica.
Mr Lyons said Mr Stefan's father had visited him in Cork prison. On May 30th, a request was made to the Department of
Justice to consider Mr Stefan in a similar context to his family following the Refugees' Convention.
Mr Stefan would maintain that he left Romania solely due to the beatings he had received from the police on grounds of his membership of an ethnic minority. He was a Baptist and a gypsy.