Groom-to-be threatened with extradition

Monday 17 December 2018

A Polish groom-to-be may have to put his wedding plans on hold after a Jersey court ruling left him facing extradition in connection with offences committed when he was just 17 years old.

Despite having already served a full prison sentence for stealing cars when he was a teenager in his native country, Polish authorities are now demanding that Jersey-based chef Dariusz Burdynski (32) return to jail for breaching a subsequent probation order.

15 years after the offences in question, and nearly a decade after he came to the island, Mr Burdynski is now facing extradition after the Magistrate’s Court ruled against him at a hearing to decide whether he had grounds to fight the request. 

Pictured: Dariusz Burdynski's rebuttal of the extradition request from Poland has been heard in the Magistrate's Court over the course of several months.

The ruling came nearly five months after Mr Burdynski was arrested in an early-hours raid at his home. 

He was held in custody in Jersey as the extradition proceedings got underway before being granted bail in September.  

At the heart of Polish authorities’ extradition request was the breach of a probation order attached to two car thefts committed when Mr Burdynski was just 17 years old. 

At 18, he was sentenced to a cumulative four years for the car thefts and two other matters, and was ordered to adhere to a lengthy probation order.

Pictured: The probation order was part of Mr Burdynski's sentence for two car thefts which he committed when he was a teenager.

Although he spent the entire sentence in a Polish prison as a young man, his home country’s government is now demanding he returns to serve additional time for breaching the probation order. 

His “settled life” in Jersey now lies entirely in the hands of the Attorney General. After a series of lengthy and technical court hearings, Mr Burdynski’s case was sent to the island’s most senior prosecutor to make a final decision on whether he will be sent back to Poland.

Now a grown man in his thirties, the court previously heard that Mr Burdynski “feels Jersey is his home”, having moved to the island eight years ago.

At a hearing earlier this year, Defence Advocate James Bell told the Court that his client is a “reliable and trustworthy” employee in his job as a chef at a fish and chips restaurant and it was noted that his boss attended almost all of his hearings as a show of support. 

Pictured: A recent spate of extradition requests from Poland have added to concerns about the Polish justice system since the Law and Justice party came into power in 2015.

Mr Burdynksi has been with his fiancée for three years and the couple recently got engaged, with plans to marry next year, but this could be jeopardised as the threat of his extradition becomes more serious.

Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris, who heard the entirety of the case, informed Mr Burdynski of his decision last week, saying: “I am satisfied that the law says you can be extradited. It is for the Attorney General to make a decision… if he decided to order extradition, you have the right to appeal…” 

The case comes amid a recent spate of extradition requests from Poland following a series of reforms by the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, which appears to be cracking down on previous offenders who have since left the country. 

A recent extradition request resulted in father-of-three Mateusz Pabian being separated from his young family in Jersey to face an 18-month prison sentence in Poland.