Extradition request threatens father with separation from young family

Monday 10 September 2018

A “loving” husband and father to three boys under six could be separated from his family and forced to leave his home of almost a decade due to stealing £20 worth of beer and minor drugs charges, committed when he was a teenager.

31-year-old Mateusz Pabian, who came to Jersey nine years ago, is one step closer to being separated from his young family after a hearing ruled against his rebuttal of a request demanding he returns to Poland to face an 18 month prison sentence for crimes committed 12 years ago.

The extradition request calls for Mr Pabian to be returned to his native country of Poland to face a prison sentence, leaving his wife to be a single mother and his three young children without a father for a year-and-a-half. The prison sentence is for breaking into a shop and stealing £21.05 worth of beer (according to current exchange rates) as well as possessing and growing small amounts of cannabis when he was 19 and 20 years old. 

Mr Pabian was arrested in a dawn raid in Jersey as part of a recent spate of extraditions to Poland. These come amid growing concerns about the Polish justice system following a series of reforms by the ruling Law and Justice party and an increase in extradition requests.

Pictured: Jersey is receiving an increased number of extradition requests from the Republic of Poland since the right-wing Law and Justice party came to power in 2015.

Mr Pabian appeared in the Magistrate’s Court last week for a hearing to decide if he had grounds to fight the extradition request, but Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris ruled against him before passing the case to the Attorney General to make the final decision on whether Mr Pabian will be sent back to Poland.

At the time, Mr Pabian pleaded guilty to the charges, but his defence lawyer, Advocate Francesca Pinel, said that the Polish Police told the young Mr Pabian that if he didn’t admit to the charges he would have no right to a defence or appeal.

The sentences were suspended several years ago, but Mr Pabian left Poland without telling his probation officer. Advocate Pinel urged the Assistant Magistrate that Mr Pabian’s extradition would not only impinge on his human rights, but also those of his family members, his Jersey-born wife and three young sons who are aged between one and six years.

Pictured: Recently qualified Advocate Francesca Pinel is defending Mateusz Pabian as he tries to fight calls for his extradition (Preston Legal).

At the hearing, Advocate Pinel said: “Mr Pabian has a close and loving relationship with his children and is a much depended upon father.” She added that the extradition would have “a hugely negative impact upon these children in what are the crucial, developmental years of their lives.”

Advocate Pinel emphasised the strain Mr Pabian's extradition would place on his wife, whom she described as "financially and emotionally dependent" on her husband of five years.

In response, police legal advisor Simon Crowder, making the case for Mr Pabian’s extradition on behalf of the Republic of Poland said: “By his flight [from Poland] he has brought upon himself the difficulties… in respect of his family life. He’s brought those difficulties on himself.” Mr Crowder described interference with family life as an “inevitable consequence” of extradition, but that Mr Pabian “stands a convicted person” who is “awaiting punishment for that conviction.”

Having heard both sides of the argument, Assistant Magistrate Harris ruled against Mr Pabian’s case for staying in Jersey, but he did grant bail subject to various conditions to allow Mr Pabian to be reunited with his family after spending several weeks in custody.