Lawyer criticises paedophile delay

THE Irish Department of Justice wanted “totally unnecessary” information before it would extradite a paedophile doctor living in Cork, the doctor’s own lawyer has said.

Californian defence lawyer Larry Biegel said he had no idea why the department sought so much information before extraditing James Daly, who fled to Cork last April after he was convicted of sexually abusing a five-year-old girl.

Newly released statements show that, four months after Daly’s extradition was sought by Californian prosecutors, the Department of Justice wanted to know who authorises deputy court clerks in California to stamp documents.

At a meeting in Dublin with a US government lawyer on August 30, the department also wanted to know who authorises deputy sheriffs to stamp similar documents and why the first page of Daly’s conviction order did not list all the charges.

It also sought a clarification of Californian sentencing laws before it would agree to arrest and extradite Daly.

During all this time, Daly was living openly in Cork.

He arrived in Dublin from Heathrow on April 12, after skipping his trial, where he was convicted on taped conversations with the victim, in which he admitted he had used her as a “love object.” He rented an apartment in Cork and wrote letters to his wife in which he said he watched children in a Cork bar and said that Ireland was a very family-focused society.

Stephanie Hulsey, deputy district attorney for Monterey County in California, said she was very disappointed with the slow pace of progress on the extradition of Daly, who eventually fled Ireland and was arrested in Uruguay last week.

The clarifications on Californian court procedures were sought on August 30 when US Justice Department lawyer, Tressa Borland, flew to Dublin to try to speed up the extradition of Daly, who abused one of his patients from when she was five-years-old until she was 12.

The clarification followed a 75-page formal extradition request last May in which Irish authorities also sought a sworn statement from the victim as well as a sworn statement from the prosecutor in the case.

The department also sought information on the notary publics who swore the victim and prosecutors documents were properly signed. As the victim is now living in Maryland, Californian prosecutors had to supply information on the laws pertaining to notary publics in California and Maryland.

Ms Hulsey said the Uruguayan authorities were much quicker to act and have arrested Daly on a provisional extradition warrant, which the Irish authorities declined to do.

While in Ireland, Daly wrote a letter on May 4 to his wife, in which he had watched children in a Cork pub and noted that Irish families allowed children into pubs and that it was a family-focused society.

He also told her he had been locked in the laundry room of the apartment where he was staying and was rescued by a garda.

“That was a trip,” he wrote.