Accused in High Court challenge to legality of detention as bail refused
Naoufal Fassih, aged 35, a Dutch national originally from Morocco, was arrested on April 7 as part of a Garda investigation into organised crime.
He was arrested at an apartment on Lower Baggot St, where a number of valuable watches were also seized, and brought before Dublin District Court the following day. He gave a different name on his arrest, the court was told.
He is charged with having two false instruments, a Belgian national identity card and the Dutch passport, both bearing different names, associated charges under the Immigration Act, and possession of a small amount of cannabis.
After gardaí objected to bail, there were a number of district court hearings, during which his identity was established as Nasoufal Fassih. He was ultimately remanded in custody on April 15 to Cloverhill Prison.
His lawyers then initiated proceedings seeking an inquiry, under Article 40 of the Constitution, into the legality of his detention arising from how the district court refused bail.
The application was heard yesterday and Mr Justice Seamus Noonan will rule on it today.
Moving the application, Coleman Fitzgerald argued counsel for his client was not given a proper opportunity at the district court to make a case for bail. Whether or not a bail application had begun, and he accepted it had for purposes of this application, his argument was it had not concluded.
Gráinne O’Neill, for the DPP, argued there was no error on the face of the detention warrant and the Article 40 procedure was not appropriate. The district court had jurisdiction to hear a bail application and, while it may not have been a “perfect” hearing, it had heard it, said Ms O’Neill.
The transcript of those hearings indicated it heard gardaí believed the “property” where the applicant was arrested was linked to the Kinahan organised crime gang, rather than the applicant was linked to that group, she said.
