RELATIVES' REACTION:THE DECISION by the High Court to sanction the extradition of Ian Bailey to France for prosecution for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork more than 14 years ago was given a cautious welcome by the French film producer's family.
Ms Toscan du Plantier’s elderly mother, Marguerite Bouniol, was at home in her apartment in Paris when she learned of the decision by Mr Justice Michael Peart to approve the surrender of Mr Bailey to the French authorities.
“I sat down and began shaking when I heard the news, and I’m still trembling. We were not expecting the decision to go this way. It’s a great victory in our struggle for justice. Fourteen years is a long time to wait but today is a great step towards justice.”
Ms Bouniol's comments were echoed by her brother, Jean Pierre Gazeau, who told The Irish Timesthe family greeted the news with a mixture of relief and elation after campaigning for so long for justice for his murdered niece.
“We still have to await the decision of the Irish Supreme Court if there is an appeal, but we are more confident about that now than we were because this result today was not obvious to us,” he said.
Mr Gazeau, president of campaign group the Association for the Truth About the Murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, said he had spoken to the murder victim’s father, Georges Bouniol.
“He is very relieved because Georges can be very pessimistic after 15 years, and I think he feared the worst today, so he is just very relieved even though we all recognise it is just another step for us.
“Even if the Supreme Court upholds the decision to extradite and even if every obstacle to extradition is overcome, it will still be a very long process because there is still a judicial process in France to be gone through before you can have a trial.”
The campaign group’s solicitor, Alain Spilliaert, welcomed yesterday’s judgment but stressed it was another stage in a judicial process.
“This is a historic day for us and we are very satisfied with the judgment of Mr Justice Peart. It is a very thorough judgment where every legal issue has been reviewed by the court before he reached his decision.
“It seems to me it doesn’t allow much leeway for a successful appeal to the Supreme Court. I see it as a strong judgment which lawyers for the defence will find difficult to get reversed, but of course we must await the outcome of any such appeal.”
Mr Bailey’s solicitor, Frank Buttimer, had previously indicated that if his client lost in the High Court the ruling would be appealed to the Supreme Court, but yesterday he refused to be drawn on whether Mr Bailey intends to appeal Mr Justice Peart’s ruling.
“We will say one brief thing and the thing we would like to say is that the judgment of the court runs to approximately 60 pages – it is a very detailed judgment and we will have to take our time to analyse the judgment and consider the implications.”
“We will also have to appear before the High Court on Tuesday so it would be inappropriate to comment on any other matter concerning the judgment at this point in time,” he said.
