The former partner of Latvian woman Baiba Saulite, who was shot dead at her home in Swords in November, has been jailed for two years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for the abduction of their children. Judge Michael White ordered that the sentence be served consecutively to a four-year sentence which Hassan Hassan received in March for handling stolen vehicles.
Hassan (38), Forestfield Road, Swords, pleaded guilty to two counts of abducting his children in December 2004.
The boys, then 2½ years and 17 months, were taken from Ireland to Syria where they were cared for by Hassan's mother until returned to Ireland in September 2005.
Judge White allowed Hassan to take the witness stand yesterday although all evidence in the case had been heard on Friday. Hassan told the court that he had abducted his children because Ms Saulite had threatened to take them to Latvia and he would never see them again.
Judge White said Ms Saulite was unable to respond to this allegation as she had been murdered since Hassan had pleaded guilty. He said there was no evidence she had been about to remove the children from Ireland.
Judge White said that at the time of the abduction Hassan had been exercising his rights over his children and they were in his custody, when he directed them to be taken to Syria where they remained for nine months despite Hassan being ordered by Swords District Court to produce the children.
He said Hassan's actions had been premeditated and well planned and that the young age of the children was an aggravating factor as their removal from their mother must have been traumatic.
Judge White said Hassan, an Irish citizen, had not sought any court order at the time of the abduction to prevent his children being taken to Latvia. He said Latvia, unlike Syria, was a signatory to certain European conventions which would have allowed Hassan to assert his parental rights there.
Judge White said Hassan had made clear efforts to intimidate Ms Saulite.
The court earlier heard 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", "I have serious charges, I don't care how long I stay in prison" and "when I finish prison, then you can get your children back".
Hassan told his counsel Patricia Moran that he was sorry for what had happened and that he loved his children "more than my life". He said he had not believed that matters would reach this stage and he had been in fear that Ms Saulite would take the children to Latvia.
He said Ms Saulite had a barring order against him at the time of the abduction and this increased his fear that he would be separated from his sons.
He said he had not meant to keep them in Syria for so long.
Hassan said his children had been brought to visit him in prison last week and that this made him very happy.
"If I lose my children I lose my life," he said.
The court was earlier told that Hassan was jailed for contempt of court after he failed to return the children to Ms Saulite in December 2004.
His phone calls from Cloverhill jail were recorded and revealed that he knew his sons were in Syria being cared for by his mother.
He was charged with abduction in August 2005 and applied to the High Court for bail which was granted on condition that he returned the children.