Pieczewski v Judicial Authority of Poland
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | MR JUSTICE OUSELEY |
| Judgment Date | 20 March 2012 |
| Neutral Citation | [2012] EWHC 969 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Date | 20 March 2012 |
| Docket Number | CO/613/2012 |
[2012] EWHC 969 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Mr Justice Ouseley
CO/613/2012
Ms A Booth (instructed by Punatar & Co Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the Claimant
Ms H Hinton (instructed by Crown Prosecution Service) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
(As Approved)
Whatever may be said about the desirability of the Polish authorities pursuing an extradition warrant against somebody for riding a bicycle on a pavement or on a road whilst intoxicated, the Polish authorities have sought the extradition of this appellant to serve a sentence of 6 months' imprisonment imposed for such an offence. It is to be noted that in fact the Polish authorities have sought the extradition of this appellant on another warrant for him to serve a sentence of 2 years and 9 months for a robbery, all of which is outstanding and none of which is now appealed against.
The single issue that is raised is whether the Polish offence satisfies the requirements of dual criminality. The warrant describes the relevant offence as driving a vehicle other than a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The description of the offence is of the appellant riding his bicycle on the pavement at about 8.00 pm. He was breathalysed. The breathalyser tests results cannot be used to show any offence in this country because there is no satisfactory means of converting the Polish requirements into any particular levels of alcohol in this country.
The equivalent offence for these purposes is section 30 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 which makes it an offence for a person be:
i. "…Riding a cycle on a road or other public place, [when he] is unfit to ride through drink or drugs (that is to say, is under the influence of drink or a drug to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the cycle)…"
The contention before the District Judge which he rejected and is repeated before me is that the Polish offence requires the proving of a lesser standard of impairment of control than the English offence. Were that so, it is right that the requirement of dual criminality would not be made out. The argument before the District Judge appears to have been approached on the basis that the relevant guidance on that issue could be found in a decision of mine in R (on the application of) Rozakmens v Judicial Authority of Latvia [2010] EWHC 3500 (Admin). That case concerned the dual criminality of the Latvian offence of "driving a vehicle … while under the influence of alcoholic beverages". That was compared to the English offence of driving whilst "unfit to drive through drink...
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R Baranowski v The Regional Court in Olsztyn, Poland
... ... the requirement of dual criminality was considered by Ouseley J in Piczewski v the Judicial Authority of Poland [2012] EWHC 969 in which he held that it did satisfy that requirement, and ... ...