A judge finds a Mongolian student's rights were not translated to him. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, reports
When Anar Odon arrived in Ireland from Mongolia on November 15th, 2001, he had definite plans. He was going to study English in the Dublin School of English for six months, then return to Mongolia and take up a place in university. He was not yet 18.
He had left behind a widowed mother, who is a factory manager, and an older brother, a small farmer. His father is dead. He is one of a growing number of Mongolians coming to Ireland to study English.
This does not come cheap - a six-month course in the Dublin School of English, including accommodation, costs just under €10,000. Students pay $3,500 up front in Mongolia, and find the rest of the money by working part-time here.
The owner of the Dublin School of English, Mr Ernest Crossen, is the Mongolian consul in Ireland, and has between 90 and 100 students in the school.
Anar's student visa allowed him to work part-time, and one of his jobs was in a pub in Killiney. This pub was frequented by a woman who was the victim of a sexual assault on the night of December 28th, 2001.
After drinking in the pub she had gone to the home of a friend and had more drink. As she was walking home at about 2 a.m., she was assaulted by a man she described as Oriental, either Chinese or Japanese, and about 5' 4" in height.
On February 14th, Anar Odon, who lived near where the assault had taken place, was arrested by police and taken to Cabinteely Garda station.
The arresting garda said he matched the description of the woman's attacker, despite the fact that he is 6' 3" and looks quite different to the photofit picture circulated by gardaí following the assault.
He asked for his English teacher from the school, who is himself Mongolian and teaches beginners' English.
This man arrived at the Garda station, and appeared to translate both the questions from the gardaí and Anar's replies. Anar was then charged with sexual assault and assault causing harm, although he denied during the interview that he had attacked the woman. Anar says he did not know what the translator was saying to the gardaí.
"I still don't know what he said," he told The Irish Times. "I just spoke in my own language."
This man also gave a statement to the gardaí about Anar's attendance record at the school, and was on the Garda list of prosecution witnesses. There are numerous English mistakes in this statement, which has been seen by The Irish Times.
There was no identity parade, and the woman never identified Anar as her attacker. In addition, a bus driver gave a statement that she had dropped off an Oriental-looking man about 5' 3" close to the scene of the crime about 10 minutes before it occurred. No attempt was made to find this man.
Anar was remanded to Clover Hill remand centre where he was initially denied bail. He was later granted bail, but he remained in custody because no accommodation could be found for him.
According to Mr Crossen, this proved impossible because of the necessity to explain his circumstances to potential landlords. He said he had tried two households who refused to take Anar because of the nature of the charges against him.
So Anar stayed in Clover Hill for 13 months. His only regular visitor was a man from the Guild of St Philip, a branch of the Society of St Vincent de Paul which visits prisoners. The man does not wish to be named. "We visit people on a non-judgmental basis," he said.
"He was my only friend," Anar said. Although at first he found it very difficult to communicate with his visitor, this changed as he learned English, of necessity, in the prison.
"Some of the other prisoners told me that if I pleaded guilty, I would get a lighter sentence or I would be sent home, but I would never plead guilty, because I did not do it," he said.
He worked very hard in prison, in the laundry, for which he was paid €3.27 a day. He saved this money and sent it home to his mother. He was also allowed to speak to her on the phone, and he tried to do so as often as possible. "I just wanted to give her some happiness," he said.
When the case first came to trial it had to be abandoned because the judge became ill.
A new hearing was set for February 24th, and began last week, but the jury was sent out for legal argument concerning the legality of Anar's detention.
There it emerged that the translator had not translated anything for the garda officer who said he had read out Anar's rights.
The non-translation of his rights was the basis for Mr Justice Michael White yesterday directing the jury at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to find him not guilty.
Anar Odon has now been found to have been innocent of the serious charges brought against him. But it is not over for him. "I have lost so many things," he said, "my place in school, my money, my name, my mind, my mother's mind.
"As quick as I can I want to go back home because I am still afraid of these things that happened. I have no job, no ticket money. But I want also to continue my studies."