Izevbekhai appeal put back to next year
Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:22A Supreme Court appeal by the Sligo based Nigerian woman Pamela Izevbekhai against her deportation will not be heard until next year.
Chief Justice John Murray said due to the volume of cases waiting to be heard by the court, it could not be given the priority being sought by lawyers for the State.
The State has brought a motion to have her appeal struck out on the grounds that fraudulent statements were made in her original High Court actions.
The State's motion will now be heard at the same time as the appeal, the court was told.
Ms Izevbekhai told the court today that she had engaged a new firm of solicitors, after her previous solicitors had received a threatening post card telling them to 'back off' her case.
Ms Izevbekhai has been challenging her deportation since 2005 on the grounds that her two daughters' lives are at risk from female genital mutilation.
She says her first born daughter died as a result of the procedure.
However the State claims that a death certificate and medical documents used to support this contention were forgeries.
Ms Izevebekhai says she was unaware that the documents were forged and has since secured new documents from a different doctor in Nigeria to prove the death of her first born daughter.
