'Return to NI or Forfeit £100,000' - Derry Judge issues stiff warning to Italian drug defendant
District Judge Suzanne Rice gives a strict November deadline to a Letterkenny-based man flying home to Italy.
An Italian man who was arrested last March for drug offences is to be allowed to return to his native Italy until the outcome of his case after his father lodges a bank draft in the amount of £100,000 with Derry Magistrate's Court.
The defendant, Gian Marcia Merlonghi (30) with an address at Lower Main Street in Letterkenny has been charged with possessing, possessing with intent to supply and being concerned in supplying both class A and C drugs.
He was arrested for the offences in the Clon Elagh estate in Derry on March 18.
At a previous court hearing the defendant had been released on conditional bail including surrendering his passport to the PSNI.
In court today his solicitor Derwin Harvey made a bail variation application to enable the defendant to return to his home address at Montedinove, a hilltop village in the Marche region of Italy located in the province of Ascoli Picene.
Mr. Harvey said he was applying for curfew and travel restrictions imposed at the earlier court hearing to be removed and for the defendant's seized passport to be returned to him.
He said the defendant's father, Dettore Gheri Merlonghi, was willing to deposit a cash surety of £100,000 to enable the court to allow his son to return home.
A police officer told the court that while the forensic evidence in the case was still outstanding, he had no objection to the bail variation application.
District Judge Suzanne Rice said since the defendant's previous court appearance the Immigration Office confirmed they would not arrest the defendant if he returned to Northern Ireland. They also said that an Electronic Travel Authorisation in relation to the defendant was in place until 2028
Granting the application she said she took into consideration that the defendant had no criminal record either in the U.K. or Italy and that the police had no objection to the application.
She said the defendant faced serious drugs charges which would possibly end up before the Crown Court.
"Having substantially considered this case for several weeks I am now satisfied there would not be any impediment for him to return to Northern Ireland to answer his case. I want to ensure there is full compliance in that the £100,000 complies with money laundering regulations. To that end the surety will have to be in the form of a bank draft, his father will have to provide valid photographic identification, proof of his residential address for the last three months and proof that the £100,000 is not from criminality, all in the form of an affidavit.
"I am adjourning this case for a review on November 19 and if the defendant does not turn up on that date the £100,000 will be forfeited", Mrs. Rice said.