A MAN attempted to avoid extradition yesterday because his human rights could be breached by being fed “potentially life threatening” red onions in an Irish jail.
The High Court in London was told Peter Ivan Dunne (45) had an intolerance to onions – red in particular – and could suffer a severe allergic reaction.
Two judges heard that Dunne, a convert to Judaism living in Coventry, feared there was “a real risk, or near certainty” that he would be killed “by the ingestion of red onions”.
This would violate his Article 2 “right to life” under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Dunne also believed there were substantial grounds for believing he would suffer inhuman or degrading punishment through the failure of the Irish prison authorities to provide him with “a red onion-free Kosher diet”, violating his Article 3 rights.
But the London High Court rejected his appeal against a decision last January by District Judge Daphne Wickham at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court allowing an extradition request made by the High Court in Dublin.
Dunne, who also goes under the name Ivan Peter Gan, is currently held at Wandsworth prison, south-west London, and is now due to be sent to Ireland within the next few weeks.
He was convicted in October 2007 at Kilkenny Circuit Court for having sexual intercourse with a mentally impaired person.
He was originally extradited to stand trial in November 2003. Dunne absconded and went back to England.