Law student Simeon Burke has been convicted of an offence under the Public Order Act and fined €300 following his arrest during a disturbance at the Court of Appeal last month.
Mr Burke, 24, from Castlebar, Co Mayo had denied the charge and said there was no disturbance in the court on 7 March last before he and other family members were forcibly removed by gardaí.
He also claimed he had never been asked to leave the court.
However Judge John Hughes, said he did not accept Mr Burke's evidence or the allegations he made against gardaí and said the prosecution had proven its case.
Mr Burke said he still did not accept the conviction and would not be paying the fine. He left court with his family.
The judge said an aggravating factor in the case was that the incident began in a courtroom and spilled over into the yard.
He referred to comments from the Chief Justice who said of all places a courtroom was one where law and order must be maintained.
Judge Hughes said a courtroom was a venue required by all sorts of people and it was important that law and order be maintained within them and to ensure that all participants receive a fair hearing.
Judge Hughes said there was a very stark conflict of evidence between the prosecution and the defence and he had to look at the CCTV and assess the witnesses.
He said the offence had to be considered against the background from which it arose.
He said it arose from a series of events in a courtroom and it was disturbing for the court to hear that the court of appeal had to rise on two occasions while delivering a judgment.
He said Mr Burke had contended there was no direction for him to leave the courtroom and that the use of force by Gardai was unlawful.
However, he said gardaí had a common law power to use force to prevent crime so whether or not there was a communique to Mr Burke was irrelevant.
He said when gardaí formed the view that there was a potential requirement to prevent a crime they can use common law power.
The judge said thereafter the use of force must be reasonable but this was a subjective test determined by the person using it.
He said he was satisfied the prosecution had proven the offence occurred in a public place although Mr Burke said he had been dragged there the judge did not accept that position.
Judge Hughes said Mr Burke alleged and put it trenchantly that gardaí were liars and several of them conspired against him and that he raised issue that they had tampered with CCTV evidence giving rise to different times on different cameras.
He added that he was abused physically and verbally and denied his rights and that there was a "carnival atmosphere" among the gardaí during his transport after he was charged.
The judge said these were "most serious allegations" that could be made against gardaí and he noted Mr Burke's responses in cross-examination.
The judge said he did not accept the allegations made against gardaí and considered the prosecution had proven its case to the required standard.
In his evidence, Mr Burke said he was in a state of shock after being removed from the Court of Appeal which he said had been "peaceful" until gardaí arrived.
Mr Burke claimed he was not lawfully arrested and that gardaí caused the disturbance.
While he did not cooperate and believed the gardaí were in the wrong he did not resist them, he said.
Mr Burke said there was no obligation to cooperate with an unlawful arrest.
He denied that he was aggressively shouting, kicking out at gardaí or holding on to furniture to resist being removed from the court.
He said evidence about him and his family shouting and screaming in the court was a lie.
He also denied that comments he made about "transgenderism" and telling gardaí they should "go to Tallaght to deal with criminals" were offensive or insulting and claimed they were "reasonable" comments.
In his evidence, Mr Burke claimed gardaí "invaded the court" after the judges had left the bench and the court business was over and tried to remove his sister and mother.
He said they had aggressively manhandled his sister and father and he had tried to reason with them as they approached his mother who he said was afraid.
He said the judges of the Court of Appeal had left the bench and denied that they had been forced to do so because of interruptions and disturbance by the Burke family.
During cross-examination he denied that he had acted deliberately to engage in conduct to provoke a breach of the peace replying "I am a law-abiding citizen".
Mr Burke has been in custody on remand since 7 March after refusing to sign a bail bond after he was charged with an offence under the Public Order Act.
Today, the court was shown CCTV footage of Mr Burke being removed to the hallway of the court by a number of gardaí.
Mr Burke had earlier raised concerns about the manner in which the footage was disclosed to him minutes before the hearing and about disparities in time codes on the footage.
However, the trial was allowed to proceed after he was given time to view the footage today.
Sgt Brian Griffin told the court he arrived at the Four Courts on 7 March in response to a call for assistance and while walking towards the Court of Appeal observed garda members outside on Inns Quay trying to effect the arrest of Simeon Burke.
He said Mr Burke was struggling and there was a lot of shouting of unintelligible insults and comments about transgenderism and that gardaí should be ashamed of themselves and should go to Tallaght to deal with proper criminals. He said Mr Burke was physically resisting arrest.
He had a pair of glasses in his hand and was squeezing them so hard Sgt Griffin was afraid he was going to break them.
He said he tried to reason with Mr Burke and warn him about the glasses but he was not listening.
He said Mr Burke's sister Ammi was "circling around gardaí shouting insults" and it was quite a volatile situation until Simeon Burke was taken away.
During cross-examination by Simeon Burke, Sgt Griffin said he could not recall exactly what Mr Burke was saying and it was "largely unintelligible comments about transgenderism".
Mr Burke said it would be his evidence that the comment he made was "we don’t have to accept transgenderism that is all I am asking …we have freedom in Ireland, freedom but we don’t have to accept transgenderism".
He said under Section 6 of the Act, the words used must be offensive and there was nothing offensive about those words.
He also said that the reference to Tallaght was a reasonable statement as it was well known there was as problem with crime in Tallaght.
Sgt Griffin said the "good people of Tallaght" might find those comments offensive.
The judge intervened to say he would not allow that questioning to continue by Mr Burke who was diverting away from the issues in the case.
Mr Burke said he was trying to illustrate the reasonableness of the statement as it was well-known there were drug barons "ruining the lives of poor people in Tallaght".
He later tried to introduce newspaper reports about crime but was refused permission by the judge who warned him a number of times about his obligation to comply with directions of the court.
Gda Michael McGrath who is stationed at the Four Courts told the court he was in the Court of Appeal on 7 March when a disturbance occurred.
He said the judges of the Court of Appeal were unable to continue delivering a judgment because members of the Burke family had all got involved in shouting and disrupting the court.
He said there had earlier been a direction to remove the two female members of the Burke family but in the meantime the judges had resumed reading their decision when the disruption resumed.
He said the judges had to rise again and Simeon Burke resisted being removed from the courtroom.
He said Mr Burke was gripping the furniture and other family members and pushed his feet into the floor.
He said it was a level of disruption you’d rarely see. He rejected a suggestion from Simeon Burke that the business of the court was finished for the day when members of the family were removed from court.
He agreed that people were leaving court at the time but said he had not heard that the judges had said they would deliver the judgment electronically.
He did not agree that the business of the court was over and said it had been interrupted.
Mr Burke put it to Gda McGrath that he has tried to reason with him and told him to leave his mother alone when Gda McGrath grabbed him and ripped his shirt.
Gda McGrath said Mr Burke’s shirt may have been ripped but that is what sometimes happens in a struggle and it was not intentional.
Mr Burke put it to the garda that his evidence that he had been gripping furniture "never happened" and that unreasonable force was used.
Gda McGrath disagreed. He also put it to Gda McGrath that no direction was ever given to remove his mother and sister from the court.
Gda Thomas Byrne told the court that Simeon Burke was "part of a collective" of Burke family members who were screaming and shouting in the Court of Appeal.
He said it "all kicked off" when the females were removed from the court and he had to grab Enoch Burke who was trying to prevent him interfering with the removal of the women.
He said he was hit in the head with a book, "either a Constitution or a bible" by Isaac Burke.
At this point Mr Burke intervened to say he was on trial and no one else and said it was "absolute lies, lies, lies".
Gda Byrne described Simeon Burke as being "wild" and screaming and shouting while resisting being removed from the court by holding on to benches and shoving people away.
During cross-examination Simeon Burke put it to the garda that it was a lie that he was hit with a book and a lie that members of his family were screaming and shouting. "What you said in your evidence was lies," Mr Burke said.
Gda Conor O’Dwyer said he asked Simeon Burke to leave the courtroom and he refused and grabbed onto a bench and started kicking out at him.
He said he was shouting aggressively and continued to do so outside the courtroom and all the way to the gates on Inns Quay.
He said Mr Burke was shouting about transgenderism and gardaí doing their job and was using a threatening and abusive tone. He said he arrested Mr Burke under the Public Order Act for an offence under Section 6.
In cross-examination by Mr Burke, the garda denied that there had been no aggression from Mr Burke and that the aggression had come fromgardaí.
It was also put to him by Mr Burke that there had been no kicking out.
Asked why that was not on CCTV, Gda O’Dwyer said it had taken place in the courtroom where there was no CCTV.
He also put it to Gda O’Dwyer that if his objective was to remove him from the courtroom that objective was achieved once he left him outside.
Gda O’Dwyer said Mr Burke had continued to shout at him despite warnings about his behaviour.
Gda Lochlann McHugh described Simeon Burke as "shouting, roaring and flailing around the place and kicking out" as they tried to escort him from the Court of Appeal building.
He said he was "shrieking in an unintelligible way"and telling gardaí to "go do our jobs" "go arrest drug dealers in Tallaght" and "get off me" and "don’t touch me" while refusing to comply with their directions.
After he was taken into custody he refused to handle the charge sheet or answer any questions during a risk assessment, Gda McHugh said.
Asked how he would describe Mr Burke’s behaviour, he said it was abusive, hostile and belittling everything the gardaí were doing.
It was put to him by Mr Burke that his evidence about Mr Burke shouting, flailing, kicking out and clinging onto a bench in court was not correct.
Gda McHugh denied calling Mr Burke "an effing attention seeker" and denied that he had never asked Mr Burke to leave the court.
At the conclusion of the prosecution case, Mr Burke made an application to the judge to have the case struck out.
He said there were inherent weaknesses and serious fundamental issues with the evidence and the elements of the alleged offence.
He said the offence under section 6 of the Public Order Act requires that the alleged words used must be specified and generalities were not sufficient.
He said the prosecution witnesses could not specify the words used and there was a lack of any evidence on which he could be convicted.
He also said the alleged offence must take place in a public place and he was dragged to a public place by gardaí and was not there of his own volition.
He said it could not be the case where gardaí could drag someone to a public place to effect an arrest.
He said unreasonable force was used by the gardaí in court and there was no warrant to remove him from the court and even if there was he ought to have simply been left outside.
He said there was no evidence of an intention to provoke a breach of the peace or recklessness.
Prosecuting solicitor Declan Keating said the offence included words and behaviour and there was ample evidence from garda witnesses and from CCTV about Mr Burke’s behaviour.
Mr Keating said this was a melee in a courtroom which got out of hand and gardaí were acting in an emergency to remove a number of people in a high octane situation where people were resisting the efforts of gardaí.
He said gardai were acting in best interests of the public and in accordance with their duties and it would be almost impossible to give an exact account of wht he said exactly to each one of them.
Mr Keating said it was clear that Mr Burke was acting aggressively and against the directions of the gardaí.
Earlier, Mr Burke had asked the judge not to record a conviction against him and instead apply the Probation Act, as it would have a detrimental effect on his career. He said he was a law student and a music teacher.
He also listed a range of academic and other achievements and told the juge he was a law-abiding citizen who had contributed to the community.
The judge said he might consider asking for a probation report, but there was a long wait due to demands for the service.
However, after a brief break to consult with his family, Mr Burke then told the judge he was still asking for the case to be struck out.
Judge Hughes again informed Mr Burke that he had been convicted and this was not possible.
Mr Burke protested that he could not accept the fine and again alleged that lies had been told by prosecution witnesses.
He said he could not in conscience pay the fine. The judge told him there were steps he could take if he had difficulty paying the fine.
Mr Burke, who has been in custody since his arrest in March, left court with his family this evening.
