An arrest warrant has been issued for the arrest of infamous international conwoman Farah Damji, who lost a Supreme Court attempt to prevent her extradition to the UK and failed to appear for a scheduled Supreme Court hearing.
or for the past two years, Ugandan-born Damji (55) has been fighting her extradition to the UK, where she was on trial for violating a restraining order twice before fleeing to Ireland. She is the daughter of a deceased South African-born real estate tycoon and has a criminal record for fraud and theft dating back to the 1990s.
During her trial at Southwark Crown Court in February 2020, Damji fled to Dublin and arrived here by traveling under false documents and using the Icelandic name Anna Margaret Vignisdottir.
The London court convicted Damji in her absence and she was subsequently arrested by gardaí in Dublin in August 2020 under a European arrest warrant.
Initially, her bail was denied in September 2020 after the Supreme Court deemed her to be at high risk of absconding, with Mr Tony Hunt noting that if he ignored the risk, “the casual observer might think I’d said goodbye to my senses”.
But six months later, Justice Paul Burns found that she should be released on proportional bail. He said Damji’s sentence in the UK was nine months in prison, but she had already been detained in Ireland for eight months while resisting extradition.
In January this year, the Supreme Court ordered Damji to be extradited to British authorities, despite her legal team alleging that her mental health needs would not be met in a British prison. Damji then appealed that order to the Supreme Court, which earlier this month ruled that there was no basis to conclude that the Supreme Court judge made a mistake in his findings that led to him ordering Damji’s surrender.
Damji was due to appear before the Supreme Court on June 20, but contacted her lawyers, claiming she had Covid and would not be able to attend court on that day. The court adjourned her case until the following Monday to set a date to complete her extradition.
However, on June 22, the Supreme Court issued a warrant for Damji’s arrest after being informed that Gardai who had asked to check the Covid certificate could not see it.
The Supreme Court previously heard that Damji’s father was a multimillionaire who passed away more than 10 years ago. However, she told Gardaí that her fortune had been put in a trust for her grandchildren and that she had not inherited her wealth.
Damji has previous convictions, including multiple theft and fraud offenses dating back to 1995, and is currently under investigation into alleged offenses under the Theft and Fraud Act.
She was convicted by Southwark Crown Court for violating a restraining order issued to two men by naming, stalking and harassing them between April and June 2018. The restraining order had prevented her from using a man in any way. who was the victim of her harassment. She is also facing a violation of her license to abstain from her trial.
During Damji’s UK trial, the court outlined how she called one victim ten times a day, left voicemails and contacted his wife’s cousins to get his wife’s phone number regarding “concerns about her children.” .
During her first bail hearing before the Supreme Court in September 2020, Garda detective Eoin Kane said Damji had used a false name when opening a bank account here and did the same when entering into a lease for an apartment on Dublin’s Bachelor’s Walk. City Center
The detective said Damji “lived under the radar” and had given the address of a neighboring apartment when shipping her personal belongings from the UK before meeting the delivery person and sending them to her own apartment.
Det Gda Kane rejected claims that Damji had limited resources and noted that she was in possession of a Rolex and Viking watch when she was arrested.
State counsel, who reminded the court that Damji accepted that she had traveled on a false document, said the appeal against bail was based on concerns she could access money and move between countries.