A High Court judge has said there “would appear to be some strength” to a claim by a sister of jailed teacher Enoch Burke that her constitutional rights were breached when she was arrested, charged and convicted of a public order offence within a matter of hours.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons on Monday granted Jemima Burke leave to bring judicial review proceedings seeking to quash her conviction on June 20th last by Judge Vincent Deane in Ballina District Court in Co Mayo.
Ms Burke (30), a management consultant in professional services and a UCG graduate in journalism, said in an affidavit she attended an inquest in Swinford, Co Mayo, on June 20th, concerning the death of a sepsis patient at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) who spent 42 hours on a trolley, went missing while in hospital care and was later found dead in a river in Castlebar.
She said she has in the past, as a journalist, worked to highlight the reality of patients’ experiences by bringing public awareness to their stories.
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She said the Swinford inquest had raised serious questions, with serious conflicts of evidence between hospital staff.
She said during the inquest lunch break, while outside on the public street, she used her phone to film the coroner, Patrick O’Connor, and several MUH staff. She said the coroner turned to her and said: “You mind you own bl**** business. You have no right to film anyone.”
She said he also said: “You are intervening with my privacy and you are the scum of this earth.”
About 15 minutes later, Garda Anthony O’Connor arrested her, confiscated her phone and brought her to Ballina Garda station where she was detained in a cell for more than two hours. She was then charged with two public order offences relating to a breach of the peace.
She was brought to Ballina Court where she was told her family would be present but initially they were not there. She said she later found out her family were unaware she was charged and her trial had begun.
She said when she appeared before judge Deane she refused to sign a bail bond which was set at €100 with conditions that she would not speak to the coroner or any of the hospital staff at the inquest or attend any further hearings of the inquest.
Judge Deane, she said, told her it would be unjust to adjourn the matter if she was not going to sign the bond, that there was little chance of her going to prison and that he had “to protect your interests at some level too”.
The hearing went ahead with only Garda O’Connor as prosecution witness and Ms Burke said she pleaded with the judge that she had no time to prepare her defence.
She said Garda O’Connor had made a number of allegations in the trial, including that she had obstructed paths of individuals and had shoved her phone into their faces, stating particular words. She said the phone footage would have clearly had probative value but it was in the possession of the gardaí at this stage.
Ms Burke gave evidence and said she was subject to intense cross examination from Garda Inspector Naomi de Rís in circumstances where “I was unable to think properly, having spent more than two hours previous to this in a cell and not having recovered from the verbal attack of the coroner prior to my arrest”.
Judge Deane convicted her of one of the public order offences, with the other taken into consideration, and fined her €350.
Ms Burke represented herself in the application for leave to quash the sentence which was brought ex parte (only one side represented). She claims she has been the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice and an appeal of her conviction to the Circuit Court is not an adequate alternative remedy.
Mr Justice Simons said it was highly unusual for someone’s case to be dealt with within hours, unless they were pleading guilty, which Ms Burke was not. But it would seem Judge Deane undertook this course of action out of concern she might not take up bail and he was satisfied he would not be imposing a custodial sentence, he said.
She was arguably put at a significant disadvantage in that she was “arguably railroaded into the hearing of a criminal matter in circumstances where [she] had sought time and was denied that time.
The matter was put in before the High Court again on Tuesday for the case to get a hearing date.
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