Court rejects accused man’s claim that he was trafficked

Aodhan O’Faolain & Ray Managh.

A Chinese man found inside a grow house has lost his High Court bid to be released from prison after a judge ruled the man is not a victim of human trafficking.

The 36-year-old son of a peasant farmer from Fu Jian province was found in Henrietta Place, Dublin, on November 20, 2012, on the top floor of the building which had been turned into a grow house with an estimated €1 million worth of cannabis.

The man sought his release from prison, where he has been held since he was discovered by the Gardaí.

His challenge was brought on grounds including he was a victim of trafficking and his constitutional and human rights have been breached in what was his effective re-victimisation.

He also asked the court to stop his trial on a charge of possession of cannabis for supply from going ahead. That case is due before the court next week.

In his judgment today Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said no “independent evidence” had been put before the court that would allow it conclude the man was a victim of trafficking. As a result the court cleared the way for the man’s trial to go ahead and deemed he was lawfully detained by the state.

The man, represented by Fergal Kavanagh SC, claimed he was imprisoned in the grow house by traffickers as a “low level gardener”.

Counsel said the man was found by gardaí in the growhouse in deplorable conditions having been effectively kept prisoner to look after the cannabis plants because his father back in China owed a €20,000 debt to a criminal, known as a “snakehead”.

The State disagreed the man was a victim of trafficking including because when he was found in the grow house, he was free to come and go, had internet access and was in possession of an iPhone 4, which had photos of him on it at various locations.

In his judgment Mr Justice Gerard Hogan said he was satisfied the man had been exploited by criminals. The court also accepted the man was kept in terrible conditions that amounted to “servitude”.

The court had every sympathy with a “vulnerable young man” who like many others had been “sucked into the vortex of the criminal underworld to pay off a debt that had been visited upon his family”.

However nothing put before the court had persuaded him that the man had been trafficked into the country.

Aside from the man’s own version of events, there was no independent verification of his claims he had been trafficked, including how he managed to get into Ireland from China, believed to be sometime in late 2010.

The Judge said the man’s story might well be true. However at present “we can’t even be sure of his identity” the Judge added.

The Judge said he also had to take into account that for a period of several months the man was at liberty in Ireland. The Judge noted the man had visited and had pictures taken at places such as Ashford Castle and the Botanic Gardens.

The Judge also said he was satisfied the Gardaí had taken the man’s trafficking claims seriously and had investigated them. They had found no evidence to back up the claim the man was trafficked, the Judge said.