Hassan acquitted following failure of witnesses to appear

A Lebanese national who was accused of threatening to kill his sister has been acquitted by direction of the trial judge after two prosecution witnesses failed to appear to give evidence.

Hassan Hassan (aged 38) of Rivervalley Close, Swords, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a threat to kill or cause Ms Rawaa Hassan serious harm at her home on August 9, 2005.

Hassan, the former partner of Latvian woman Baibe Saulite who was shot dead at her home in Swords in November, was jailed for two years last December for the abduction of their two children.

The then two-and-a-half-year and 17-month old boys were taken from Ireland to Syria where they were cared for by Hassan's mother until returned to Ireland in September 2005.

Hassan was also convicted of criminal damage in December 2001 and for his role in a plan to export stolen vehicles to the Middle East in March 2006. He is serving a four year sentence for this crime.

Judge Frank O'Donnell directed jury of 10 women and two men to find Hassan not guilty because two witnesses, Ms Hassan's husband and her 15-year-old daughter, were not available to give evidence.

He said, in his opinion, it was vital that they heard the evidence of these witnesses to allow them to determine the guilt or innocence of Mr Hassan. It was day six of the trial.

Mr Erwan Mill-Arden SC, defending, told Judge O'Donnell in his application for a direction of not guilty, that he was entitled to cross-examine both Ms Hassan's husband and her daughter and that their absence prejudiced his client.

He said that in his statement to gardaí, Ms Hassan's husband claimed that he heard Hassan tell his wife he would strangle her, while her daughter's statement said she called gardaí after hearing her mother crying. The daughter had also acted as an interpreter for her father during his statement to gardaí.

Judge O'Donnell thanked the jury for its service and "great patience" in understanding the difficulties of the trial.

He also complimented counsel in the case and said it was not easy for them because of the way the evidence unfolded.

He discharged Mr Hassan from the indictment and cancelled a bench warrant which was issued to allow Ms Hassan's daughter to be brought before the court but asked for Ms Hassan's husband to be presented to explain his refusal to give evidence.

Earlier in the trial, Ms Hassan told Mr Dominic McGinn BL, prosecuting, that her brother never threatened to kill her and they had a "small row" when she refused to give him a video of his children.

She said that her daughter had overheard the conversation and because she heard shouting, mistakenly thought there was something wrong and called the Gardaí.

Ms Hassan said she and her brother were speaking in Arabic and they always spoke loudly in their native language. She claimed her daughter does not understand Arabic and misunderstood the situation.

She also claimed that her garda statement in which she said her brother told her: "I kill you. You don't know what time I kill you" was inaccurate.

She denied a suggestion that she had given her statement to the gardaí in English and said that her seven-year-old son had interpreted for her.

She also denied that she told gardai that Mr Hassan said: "I give someone to give a fire in this house" and that he would break all her teeth and "give something to my eyes so I cannot see".

Ms Hassan did not accept a suggestion from Mr McGinn that she had decided not to give evidence against her brother because she had either resolved her differences with him or that she was still afraid of him.

She said: "I am afraid of nobody. There is no animosity between me and my brother. His children are living with me."

She added that there was nothing between her and her brother and she had attempted to contact the gardai a number of times to have the charges dropped.

Ms Hassan later agreed with Mr Mill-Arden (with Mr Pat O'Brien BL) that Mr Hassan pointed his finger at her and said: "I swear to God I will beat you" when she refused to give him a video of his children.

She accepted that although her brother said this she did not think he was going to beat her and said it was something people in her country would often say but it would not actually mean they would hit them.

She admitted that although she told her brother his children did not appear on the video because it was taken at a woman's party, there was a little bit of footage of them.

She agreed that she did not want her brother seeing the recording of the party and when she refused to give it to him he became angry and threatened to beat her if she did not hand it over.

Judge Michael White said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court when sentencing Hassan last December for the abduction that he had made "clear efforts to intimidate" his late partner, Ms Saulite.

The court heard in that case that he had told her: "You will never get the children back unless you drop all charges. No one can force me to bring back the children."

Evidence was given that he also said to Ms Saulite: "I have serious charges, I don't care how long I stay in prison. When I finish prison then you can get your children back."

The children had been staying with him at an address in Blanchardstown on December 6, 2004 and were due to return to their mother on December 9 when he asked her on if they could stay with him for another night.

The evidence given was that Ms Saulite refused and went to Swords Garda Station. He told her she would never see the boys again and that they were already in England.

Ms Saulite made an application at Swords District Court for their return which was not complied with by Hassan who was jailed for contempt of court. His phone calls from Cloverhill Prison were recorded and they revealed that he knew his sons were in Syria being cared for by his mother.

Hassan was charged with abduction in August 2005 and applied to the High Court for bail which was granted on condition that he return the children.