A “qualified doctor” has been denied bail after he was arrested while being removed from a hostel in the Liberties, Dublin 8, yesterday.
Garda Ross Kavanagh gave evidence that Abdel Higazi (36) of Back Lane, Dublin 8, made threats to kill or cause serious harm contrary to Section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act when he is alleged to have told a member of staff at the DePaul hostel he was living at that he would “spill your blood” and “cut your throat” while making “references to Allah” on the 26th of March.
Garda Kavanagh said that a 999 call was made from the hostel yesterday after staff had asked the accused to leave as his “bed had been closed” after he had received a prior warning about his alleged “aggression”.
After he refused to leave, Gardaí attended the scene and were shown to Higazi’s room, which Garda Kavanagh said had a smell of cannabis coming from it, although the accused claims to be drug-free.
Hagazi then allegedly tried to close the door on Garda Kavanagh and “became aggressive within inches” of his face, that the accused’s face was “vibrating” and that he could see “something black in his pocket”. When the accused allegedly failed to desist from his behaviour, he was arrested for trespass contrary to Section 13 of the Criminal Justice Public Order Act 1994 and Section 6 of the same act for threatening and abusive behaviour.
It was also alleged that when four Gardaí attempted to remove the accused from the hostel, as they were bringing him down the stairs, he attempted to walk faster than them to “pull” them “down” and “cause harm”, the court heard.
As he “continued to resist arrest”, the accused is alleged to have made “some alarming comments” such as referring to Garda Kavanagh and his colleague a “queer on multiple occasions” as well as “licking his lips in a disturbing and inappropriate manner” while looking at the two female Gardaí present.
Hagazi, who claims to be a “qualified doctor” who is the son of a “working qualified doctor”, is also alleged to have made comments about “stabbing children” before he was “eventually brought to the ground”.
After he was refused station bail, speaking about one of the female Gardaí, the accused is alleged to have told a jailor he would, “Find her in the streets and cut her head off as I am working for Allah.”
It was also alleged that he told a female staff member at the hostel who was carrying out a routine daily room check, “Get out, you’re a woman, this is sacred ground”.
Garda Kavanagh said that this woman was “placed in fear” due to Higazy’s alleged “aggression and misogyny”.
Defending counsel, Paddy Flynn BL, argued that his client has no previous convictions and is an Irish citizen who has lived here for almost all his life, although Garda Kavanagh said it was his belief that he was Egyptian.
Mr Flynn said that his client no longer had an Egyptian passport and that he claims to be living in the hostel as a means of studying sociology “for medical research”. Hearing this, Judge Conor Fottrell quipped, “He could come down to here for that.”
Flynn argued that his client was entitled to the presumption of innocence, was a man with no previous convictions and was living a “monastic medical life in hostels”.
Pleading for bail, he argued that his clients’ alleged “aggressive” comments in Arabic were “speculative” as we “have to acknowledge other people’s faiths” and that “an expletive to one man is a Bible verse to another”.
“A lot of the allegations are strange to say the least and may come out to mean nothing,” he argued.
Garda Kavanagh said that he was “fearful that this man will intimidate witnesses” due to his “observed” behaviour during and after his arrest when he had “spent multiple hours with his man”.
Having heard the evidence, Judge Fotrell said that the Garda’s objections were “well established and well founded” and that on that basis he was refusing bail.
The accused was remanded in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court via video link on the 5th of May next.