Enoch Burke’s father Seán could join his son behind bars in Mountjoy Prison over Christmas after being jailed for assaulting a female garda.
Seán Burke will spend two months in prison after he rejected the chance of a suspended sentence, when he refused to sign a bond stating that he would be of good behaviour and keep the peace for one year.
His imprisonment arose from a scuffle at the Court of Appeal on March 7 last year, when his son Enoch lost a case he had taken against his suspension from Wilson’s Hospital School.
Seán’s daughter, Ammi, was cleared of obstructing another garda, a man, during the same incident. Seán Burke, who is in his 60s, denied assaulting Bridewell garda Victoria Fisher in the Four Courts, when his wife Martina was escorted from the hearing for shouting at judges.
The Irish Prison Service would not confirm which prison Seán Burke will attend, but a source familiar with court procedures said it was normal practice for prisoners to spend the start of their sentence in Mountjoy, meaning he could end up spending Christmas close to his son.
Enoch has now spent more than 450 days in the Dublin jail for contempt of court, having repeatedly refused to stay away from his former school, in accordance with a court order.
PRISON
Cloverhill District Court heard that Garda Fisher was grabbed, knocked down and hit a radiator, resulting in bruising.
Even though he had been spared a criminal record, Seán Burke unsuccessfully attempted to quash the guilty verdict delivered in May in the District Court, which gave him the Probation of Offenders Act. However, following a three-day District Court appeal hearing, Judge Ronan Munro convicted him on Tuesday.
The judge referred to the uncontested evidence that Seán Burke shouted at gardaí to leave his wife alone. He did not accept the knocking down of the garda was accidental, and held that there was an intentional application of force.
The offence carries a maximum six-month sentence and €1,500 fine. Judge Munro imposed a two-month sentence, but, noting Burke’s lack of prior convictions, said he would suspend it on condition he keep the peace and be of good behaviour for one year.
However, Seán Burke refused to sign the peace bond, at which point the judge said he would serve the sentence.
Burke, who had represented himself and did not accept the verdict, shook hands with and hugged his son Dr Isaac Burke before being led into custody.
‘FORCED TO WITNESS THOSE SCENES’
In his ruling, Judge Munro said the officers had a duty to restore order following several interruptions by members of the Burke family. He rejected arguments that the gardaí dealing with the courtroom ‘chaos’ had no legal authority to remove them.
The judge commented: ‘Members of the public, including visiting schoolchildren, were forced to witness those scenes in a court of law, which I regard as offensive scenes.’
In evidence, Seán Burke said he had respect for gardaí and the courts, but was shocked at a remark by the Court of Appeal judge that Enoch had been talking in ‘soundbites’ or that the proceedings were not about transgenderism. He said his family ‘raised an objection, we spoke and objected to this’, adding that he had affirmed the objection.
He said he was concerned when his wife was removed from the courtroom and went after her, but it was in a narrow, congested aisle, and he did not see Garda Fisher due to the height disparity between them. He rejected the assault allegation outright.
Ammi Burke, 33, won her appeal. A qualified solicitor, she had earlier been fined €400 and convicted of obstructing a garda by putting her hand on him for a few seconds as he helped arrest her brother Simeon Burke, 25, who was brought ‘flailing’ from the courtroom.
On Tuesday, she succeeded in her appeal because Judge Munro had a reasonable doubt she had directly obstructed the arrest of her brother Simeon, given the fast-moving situation.
After being cleared, Ammi had to be escorted from the proceedings because she interrupted Judge Munro as he delivered his decision in her father’s case.
Enoch Burke’s case comes back before the High Court for review this Friday.
