PROSECUTORS have been given more time to prepare their case against former soldier Lisa Smith, who is charged with membership of ISIS.

The mother-of-one (37) was further remanded in custody today after a court heard a book of evidence was not ready yet.

Judge Colin Daly adjourned the case to a date in January, when the accused will appear by video link, at her lawyer’s request.

Today was Ms Smith’s second court appearance at Dublin Dstrict Court after she was charged and refused bail last week. She had been deported from Turkey and arrested when she stepped off her flight at Dublin Airport before being detained for questioning for 72 hours.

The charge alleges that Ms Smith, from Aghameen Park, Muirhevnamor, Dundalk, was a member of a terrorist group outside the state between October 28, 2015 and December 1 this year.

It is alleged it was an organisation styling itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Dawlat al-Iraq al Islamiya, Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Dawlat al Islamiya fi Iraq wa al Sham, otherwise known as ‘Da’esh’ and the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham.

The court has heard she will be denying the charge, on which the DPP has directed trial on indictment.

Judge Daly said today the case was in court for the service of a book of evidence and asked if it was ready.

A State solicitor said the book was not ready and he was seeking a four-week adjournment.

The book of evidence is required before the accused can be sent forward for trial to a higher court.

Defence barrister David Leonard said there was consent to the adjournment and asked the judge if the next appearance could be via video link from Limerick prison, where the accused is detained.

Judge Daly asked if there was a facility available and a garda sergeant said this could be provided in another courtroom in the Criminal Courts of Justice.

Ms Smith, dressed in a black robe with her face uncovered, stood at the side of the court during the brief hearing with her hands held in front of her and was not required to speak.

Judge Daly previously recommended Ms Smith is separated from the rest of the prison population for her own safety while in custody.

At last week’s bail hearing, Det Sgt Gareth Kane said Ms Smith made no reply to the charge after caution.

Objecting to bail, he said it was alleged the accused had been radicalised in Dundalk, travelled to Syria in 2015, married an alleged ISIS member and “pledged allegiance to Islamic State in the full knowledge of its brutal regime, after a caliphate was declared.

It was also alleged she provided financial support to named individuals. Det Sgt Kane said further charges were contemplated.

Seeking bail, defence solicitor Peter Corrigan had said Ms Smith “never joined Isis,” was “vulnerable” and only went to Syria to live in the Islamic State as a loyal Muslim after converting to Islam.

He said during the bail hearing she had been urged to go by a spiritual leader who told her if a caliphate was declared, all Muslims were obliged to do so.

Living there did not make someone guilty of an offence, Mr Corrigan said.

“Her case is that she never joined Isis, she lived in an Islamic State, she lived by the Koran,” Mr Corrigan said.

There was no evidence of her training anyone, or that she ever held a gun and she “vehemently” denied being involved in fighting, he continued.

She had not provided financial assistance to Isis, but gave money “to people living in poverty.”

Ms Smith condemned Islamist terrorists and had walked across the desert through “bombs, poverty and cesspit camps” with her young daughter to get away from their “barbaric state,” Mr Corrigan said.

Ms Smith was had been separated from her daughter, and was “missing her terribly,” he added.

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