A man convicted of drug dealing is challenging the lawfulness of a condition attached to a sentence imposed on him four years ago that he must leave the country upon his release from prison.
Lukasz Mroz, a Polish national living in Ireland since 2009, was sentenced in March 2019 to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing about €611,000 worth of cannabis and amphetamines for sale and supply. The final year was suspended on the condition that he would leave Ireland for 10 years upon his release from jail.
Mroz (39), whose sentence was backdated to October 2017, says he was granted early release last July. He was held in custody until January on foot of European arrest warrants issued in Poland that were refused by the Irish High Court as they did not comply with requirements under the relevant law, he says.
He was released in January and is now subject to the terms of the suspended sentence.
The Minister for Justice issued him with a removal and exclusion order but, following submissions from him, withdrew the proposal, he says.
Requirement to leave State
Mroz, a car-wash labourer with an address at Old County Road, Dublin, is asking the High Court to quash the condition imposed in March 2019 at Tullamore Circuit Court requiring him to leave the State.
He claims in legal papers that the Circuit Court judge who imposed the condition failed to carry out a fair and lawful proportionality assessment and this was a breach of Mroz’s Constitutional, European Convention and fundamental Charter rights.
There was a failure to make a finding that Mroz represented a danger for public policy or public security, he alleges. The judge should also have made a provision for Mroz to be assessed at the time of his release to determine if he presented a threat in public security, Mroz says.
An alleged failure to take into account Mroz’s substantial private life within this State was a further error, Mroz claims. The condition, he says, has a “disproportionately punitive” effect such that it fell outside the Circuit Court judge’s discretionary powers.
'Fresh start'
In a sworn statement, Mroz says he came to Ireland in 2009 “to make a fresh start” having fled Poland following his conviction for a number of offences including theft, robbery and assault.
He began to use drugs, became homeless and was offered accommodation in return for storing drugs, he claims. He says he accepted this offer as he was “desperate and hopeless” and he then could not back out.
In prison, he says, he engaged with a prison psychologist, completed a course in welding, and worked in the kitchen. He considers Ireland to be his home, and he wants to put his difficulties behind him and “lead a good and fulfilling life”.
Mroz says he will be arrested and detained on foot of the warrants underlying the refused European arrest warrants if he returns to Poland. He also says it is unlikely he will be permitted entry to any other state due to his significant criminal record.
The High Court this week directed Mroz, represented by barrister Leonora Frawley, to notify the respondent Director of Public Prosecutions about his case and his application seeking permission to pursue his claims.
Mr Justice Charles Meenan adjourned the case until July 18th.
