A pleasure boat captain who claimed he had a "God-given right" to take his craft out onto the Liffey has been cleared on appeal of being drunk while erratically sailing in Dublin Port's shipping lane six years ago.
Brian Stacey, 50, of Derry Drive, Crumlin, and co-defendant Ronan Stephens, 46, from Captain's Road in Crumlin, Dublin, were handed three-month jail sentences, with the final month suspended in each case, and fined €1,000 in January 2020.
They were also ordered to complete alcohol awareness courses after their six-day Dublin District Court hearing.
The pleasure boat was seized and later destroyed.
However, the two friends were released after they lodged an appeal to overturn the verdict and sentences, which came before the Circuit Court. It had been delayed as a result of Covid-19.
One of the gardaí who gave evidence against the men is serving a prison sentence for coercive control.
Judge Geoffrey Shannon noted that the case was listed for mention today but the State consented to Mr Stacey's appeal being allowed.
Defence counsel John Griffin said Mr Stacey's appeal had been allowed, and the co-defendant's appeal was adjourned until a later date.
Mr Stacey's original District Court trial had been told that Dublin Fire Brigade, a tugboat, an RNLI lifeboat, and gardaí had to get involved in dealing with the incident on the Liffey and the shipping lane on the morning of 1 June 2017.
The sailors on the Peja, a small 26ft quarter-tonne yacht, allegedly refused to get out of the shipping lane and delayed the approach of the Corinthian, a 90-metre, 4,000-tonne cruise liner, the non-jury District Court trial had heard.
Gardaí were also brought out on the water to help deal with the situation but were allegedly told to f*** off.
The court had heard that Mr Stacey, the yacht skipper, insisted it was his "God-given right" to sail on the Liffey while his co-accused stripped off when the boat came in at Sir John Rogerson's Quay, where he was arrested.
They faced charges under the Maritime Safety Act. They denied careless sailing, operating a vessel while intoxicated, and engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour at the shipping lane.
In their defence, they claimed during their trial that there was no alcohol on board, just bottled water, and they were not breathalysed.
Witnesses claimed they saw the small boat zig-zagging on the shipping lane fairway of the port.
Mr Stacey had told his District Court trial that he was "fuming" because he thought the other boats were trying to destroy his pleasure craft.
He said he had been sailing for ten years and agreed best practice would have been to make radio contact with the harbour master earlier that morning. However, he claimed they did not answer the designated radio channel.
He denied using profanities and told the court: "I told them it was my God-given right to sail down the Liffey if I feel like it."
He said he was not the sort of person that cursed.
"It was our God-given right to operate on the water," he had testified.
