ISIS bride Smith’s Xmas in custody
Court case wait for book of evidence
TERROR suspect Lisa Smith will spend Christmas behind bars after appearing in court for a second time.
The former Air Corps member was charged with ISIS membership last week and was yesterday further remanded in custody until January ahead of a book of evidence being prepared.
She was sent back to Ireland from Turkey along with her two-year-old daughter on December 1, but was refused bail three days later following strenuous objections she had been radicalised and joined the middle eastern terror group.
The Co Louth woman denies the allegations and claimed she went to live in the declared Islamic State, and was following teaching of the Koran, after a period in her life when she had suffered severe depression and was suicidal, Dublin
District Court was told. Her lawyer had pleaded that Smith had come back to Ireland after walking with her toddler daughter “through bombs, poverty and cesspit camps and desert to come to her country of origin”.
She was refused bail on a number of grounds and was remanded in custody to appear again at Dublin District Court yesterday morning.
Wearing a black traditional abaya robe with her face uncovered, Smith, who has been held at Limerick Prison, did not address the court.
The 37-year-old, with an address at Aghameen Park, Dundalk, stood facing Judge Colin Daly holding her hands in front of her during the brief hearing.
Judge Daly said the case was listed for service of a book of evidence but a State solicitor confirmed it was not yet ready. It has to be served before she can be
Prison van leaving court yesterday sent forward for trial to a higher court. A four-week adjournment was sought.
Defence barrister David Leonard consented and asked if his client could appear via video-link from Limerick Prison on the next date.
Judge Daly agreed and ordered this hearing would take place on January 8.
If convicted Smith faces a maximum 10-year sentence. The Director of Public Prosecutions has directed trial on indictment. Possible further charges are contemplated.
Her charges sheet stated Smith was a member of the terrorist group between October 28, 2015 and December 1, 2019.
She made no reply when charged said Special Detective Unit (SDU) Sergeant Gareth Kane, who objected to bail on December 4. He had cited the seriousness of the case, her alleged radicalisation and possible flight risk. Det Sgt
Kane alleged she was radicalised in her home town of Dundalk before leaving the country.
He claimed Smith, who once worked on the Government jet, married an ISIS member from Britain when she moved to Syria in 2015. She allegedly provided finances and pledged allegiance to ISIS, “in full knowledge of its brutal regime”, after a caliphate was declared.
She was later discovered living in a Kurdishcontrolled refugee camp in war-torn Syria and later walked with her child to Turkey where she was later questioned by the FBI.
The SDU sergeant had also cited flight risk fears saying: “She has shown ability to enter countries [such as] Syria in times of conflict”. Her legal team have asked for Smith to be segregated from the rest of the prison population while on remand.
DUBLIN DISTRICT COURT
Lisa Smith
She has ability to enter countries in times of conflict
DET SGT KANE