Pining for Pearse

The man who has become widely known as “Larry the Chef,” for reasons other than his culinary skills, is more inclined to talk about the effect that the potential warrant is having on his relationship, or lack of one, with his 4-year-old son, Pearse.
And it is the delicate issue of a father and son relationship, against the backdrop of a broken marriage, that has prompted the intervention in the Zaitschek case by a British-based human rights group, British Irish Rights Watch.
Zaitschek is a prime suspect in the investigation arising from the theft of secret police files from the Police Service of Northern facility at Castlereagh outside Belfast on St. Patrick’s Day 2002.
The New Yorker, who worked in the Castlereagh kitchen as a chef, denies any connection to the stolen documents and an expected extradition warrant with his name on it has so far failed to materialize on this side of the Atlantic.
Investigators in Belfast have only said that a warrant is “under active consideration.”
In the meantime, Zaitschek, who works in a Manhattan restaurant, is demanding that his, and his son’s, human rights are acknowledged and accommodated. All that would entail, for the time being at least, is regular phone contact.
“They have taken my son away from me,” Zaitschek said this week. “They have broken up a family and this is a violation of our human rights. Pearse is entitled to a dad.”
Jane Winter of British Irish Rights Watch agrees.
“They should put up or shut up. I don’t believe they have enough evidence to prosecute Larry Zaitschek,” Winter said of the office of the Director of Public Prosecution in Belfast.
Speaking from London, Winter said that her organization is attempting to put pressure on the DPP to drop the investigation that has Zaitschek at its center.
“They [the DPP] are being slightly more responsive than usual, which to me indicates the weakness of their position,” she said. “They have been considering this super carefully for three or four months. There can’t be that much in their file.”
Winter’s organization describes itself as “independent non-governmental organization that has been monitoring the human rights dimension of the conflict, and, more recently, the peace process, in Northern Ireland since 1990.” The group offers its services free “to anyone” whose human rights have been violated because of the conflict, “regardless of religious, political or community affiliations.” The group states on its website that it takes “no position on the eventual constitutional outcome of the conflict.”
Winter said she believed that Zaitschek would be fully justified in taking legal action with regard to his inability to speak with his son, but acknowledged that such a move would be difficult from a distance of 3,000 miles.
“His Belfast solicitor, Joe Rice, and I have been warning him not to go back,” Winter said. “The PSNI would find it very difficult to ignore his presence.”
Winter said that British Irish Rights Watch did not perceive any impediment to Zaitschek having regular contact with his son by phone. Zaitschek’s estranged wife, Lisa, who currently has custody of Pearse, is, however, being kept in the British version of the U.S. Witness Protection Program.
“But what is she a witness to,” Winter said. “It is a basic human right to be able to speak to your child,” she added.
Attorney Rice said that Zaitschek’s legal and family situations had become intertwined. He described his client’s situation as “very bizarre, more political than legal.”
“How much is this costing the taxpayer?” he said. “There has been no application for extradition despite broad hints to the contrary many moons ago.” Rice said that Zaitschek would have to be in Northern Ireland to have a chance of securing access to his son but acknowledged that under present circumstances a transatlantic flight was unlikely.
“He has to face the emotional entanglement of not seeing his son,” Rice said.
Meanwhile, Rice added, there was no time limit or statute of limitation on the DPP’s investigation.
“Larry’s a scapegoat in a political sense and he is also in a legal limbo,” Rice said.
Zaitschek, meanwhile, said he had spoken to Pearse only twice on the phone in the last 8 months.