The mother and sister of jailed teacher Enoch Burke have been arrested after the High Court issued orders for their attachment and committal early this month.
Both Martina and Ammi Burke were held in contempt of court by Mr Justice Brian Cregan for their conduct at a court hearing in late February, which related to their son and brother, Enoch Burke.
When Justice Cregan delivered his judgment on the 4th of March regarding the women being held in “contempt in the face of the court” due to sustained instances of shouting and interruptions during the previous hearing, neither woman attended the court.
Today, it was reported that the women were arrested at Castlerea Prison during a family visit to Enoch Burke, who was transferred there from Mountjoy Prison after receiving a P19 behaviour-related order from Mountjoy.
It is understood that prison officers contacted An Garda Síochána, who came and took the women into custody, pursuant to the High Court orders for their arrest and imprisonment.
When Justice Cregan issued the orders, he sentenced both women to two weeks in prison, although Irish law permits a person to be held in prison indefinitely for contempt of court.
Gardaí had already made at least one attempt to locate the women at their family home in Castlebar on the 6th of March, but were unsuccessful at that time.
Judgment on contempt of court proceedings
In his judgment, Justice Cregan said, Ms Ammi Burke “is a solicitor and officer of the court. As such, she has been trained about her professional and ethical duties to the court. She has, however, completely lost sight of this some time ago. She was part of the Burke family disturbance, which actually prevented the Court of Appeal from delivering its judgment” on a previous occasion.
He said that on this occasion, Ms Burke has to be removed from the court by Gardai with the case dismissed as an “abuse of process” by the presiding judge because of her “disgraceful behaviour”.
Both women found “guilty” of contempt in the face of the court and issued with custodial sentences.
The judgment, read in full before the High Court, continued by referring to the conduct of Ms Burke and her mother at a hearing on the 20th of February last, which he described as “brazen and deliberate contempt of court” and “indefensible”.
Justice Cregan also declared his intention to make an order that members of the Burke family who have engaged in disruptive behaviour during the course of court proceedings be banned from attending future hearings in person, and instead allowed to participate remotely via video link to ensure that the proceedings do not have to be abandoned due to the possibility of future interference.
Members of the Burke family were given time to make submissions in respect of this.
During their defence arguments in relation to the proceedings, the Burke women had argued that their conduct in court was motivated by Justice Cregan not addressing Enoch Burke’s pleas to have the affidavits of Mr. Sean Ó’ Longain referred to the DPP for alleged perjury, however Justice Cregan, in his judgement, pointed out that this could not be the case as their disruptive conduct had begun after 10:40 am on the 20th of February, whereas Mr Burke had only broached the subject of the DPP referral after 12 pm, long after both women had been removed from the proceedings, which were temporarily abandoned because of their conduct.
“It is clear that Mr Enoch Burke and other members of the Burke family, including Mrs Burke and Ms Burke, believe that they are above the law and that the law does not apply to them. The question is whether they should be exempt from the rule of law because they are apparently Christian evangelicals. The question only has to be stated in these terms to realise that the answer is definitely no,” he continued.
“There is no exemption for Christian evangelicals, or climate change activists, or animal rights activists or anti-abortion protestors. The law applies equally to all persons who seek to deliberately interrupt court proceedings and seek to disrupt them,” he said.
“Mrs Burke and Ms Burke- just like their brother Enoch – are not exceptional. They are just exceptionally unable to accept what every other citizen in this republic accepts every day i.e that the law applies to them and that they are subject to the rule of law. We live in a democracy governed by the rule of law and not in a theocracy governed by the Burke family.”
After the delivery of the 30-page judgement, Mr Enoch Burke, when unmuted on videolink, accused Justice Cregan of ‘mocking God’ with his remarks. He also accused the court of unfairly bringing the family’s religious beliefs into its comments. Justice Cregan replied, saying, “I have not mocked God at all”.
Later, when Burke told the judge that god would “judge” him, Justice Cregan told him not to “threaten” him.
“This court has repeatedly warned Mrs Burke and Ms Burke to cease and desist from their interruption. This has not worked. This court has also repeatedly directed the gardaí to remove Mrs and Ms Burke from the court. This has not worked either.”
“They continue to shout and disrupt court proceedings on almost every occasion. There comes a time when the court must then move to consider contempt of court proceedings against them. That time is long overdue.”
“Having considered all the circumstances, I am of the view that Mrs Martina Bukre should be sentenced to two weeks in prison. I am also of the view that Ms Burke should be sentenced to two weeks in prison,” he said.