The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal against the extradition of a 67-year-old man wanted in the North to face trial for the murder of a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment more than 45 years ago.
In February, the High Court put a stay on its ordered surrender of pensioner James Donegan of Bruce Manor, Arva, Co Cavan, who is accused of the murder of 64-year-old Joseph James Porter at Mountnorris in Co Armagh on a date unknown between June 22nd and 25th, 1979.
Mr Donegan, who has described himself as a “soldier at war”, is also wanted for alleged possession of a firearm and ammunition with the intent to endanger life as well as allegedly belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army.
In January at the High Court, Mr Justice Patrick McGrath ordered Mr Donegan’s surrender to the UK authorities but put a stay on that order to allow him to try to appeal his extradition.
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The Supreme Court this week rejected Mr Donegan’s application to have the appeal heard, finding that it did not meet the constitutional threshold required.
Mr Donegan was arrested at Dublin Airport last June having agreed to meet gardaí as he returned home from holidays. He told the arresting officers: “I’m an innocent man”.
The High Court heard that the arresting detective asked Mr Donegan whether he knew what the offences were about and replied: “Yes, I guess so”.
Mr Donegan was arrested by detectives from the Garda Extradition Unit at the airport following the endorsement of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) Warrant issued by the Northern Ireland Authorities.
The extradition warrant issued in April 2014 states that Mr Porter’s body was found close to the entrance of his farm at Creggan Road, Mountnorris, on June 24th, 1979. Mr Porter had died of gunshot wounds to the head and trunk.
In the Supreme Court determination refusing permission to appeal, the court noted that the application for leave focused on the contention that the issuing state has not properly met the legal threshold for compliance in that ‘correspondence’ has not been established.
The Supreme Court said it was necessary to further consider information provided by authorities in the North to establish a corresponding offence in the South to satisfy the conditions for the surrender of Mr Donegan.
The determination said that the Northern authorities relied on the fact that the victim was a member of the UDR, that a rifle used in the attack was used in subsequent attacks on security forces in Northern Ireland for which the IRA claimed responsibility and that it was recovered in a Provisional IRA arms cache in April 1980.
The Supreme Court determination states that when interviewed by gardaí in 2017, Mr Donegan, while denying involvement in the murder, referred to himself as a “soldier at war” and described the victim as a “legitimate target”.
Four fingerprints had been recovered from the inside of Mr Porter’s house, and a right thumbprint on a bedroom door had been found to match a fingerprint of Mr Donegan, the court noted.
The State argued that the issue of correspondence put forward by lawyers for Mr Donegan was actually one of “want of sufficient detail”.
In refusing the application to appeal, the Supreme Court said it was not satisfied that the High Court decision to surrender Mr Donegan raised any issue of general public importance. “Rather, the [High Court’s] decision was the application of well-established law to the particular facts of this case”, it said.
