A LATVIAN woman and her Pakistani fiance have settled their High Court action over a county registrar’s alleged refusal to permit them marry following Garda objections alleging it was a marriage of convenience.
Ina Aksjonova (23) and Shahid Mahmood (25), Georgian Villa, Clare Street, Limerick, initiated their judicial review challenge last October against the Limerick County Registrar and the Garda.
They claimed they were told on July 8th last, the day before their planned marriage, it could not go ahead. The couple denied it was a marriage of convenience and argued unlawful interference with their right to marry.
They sought a number of orders, including the quashing of the objection to the marriage lodged by gardaí and the overturning of the decision by the Limerick registrar to refer that objection to the Registrar General for consideration.
Yesterday, when the matter came before the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, he was told by counsel for the couple the case had been resolved. The terms of settlement were not disclosed in court and the judge struck out the case with no further order. In an affidavit grounding the judicial review application, Ms Aksjonova had said she could not understand why gardaí had lodged an objection the day before their wedding.
She said she had become friends via the internet with Mr Mahmood, who is studying in Ennis, and they had started to get on very well and had conversations on Skype.
She was happy to have the chance to improve her English and learn about other cultures. In November 2009, she said she decided to move to Ireland so they could have the chance to develop their relationship further. In February 2010, he asked her to marry him, she added. After giving notice of their intention to marry, both obtained letters of freedom from their respective embassies.
They planned to visit both Latvia and Pakistan after the wedding, but on July 8th received notice gardaí had objected to the marriage. Shortly afterwards, they attended a local immigration office and were interviewed by gardaí about their relationship.