Secondary school teacher Enoch Burke and his sister Ammi were removed from a courtroom by Gardai after a High Court judge said he would not allow court business to be disturbed by them.
RTE report that Judge Brian O’Moore said the courts must deal with matters of real, day-to-day concern to citizens and should not be impeded by the Burkes’ activities.
Mr Burke and his sister appeared in court despite a review of his case originally scheduled for today having been postponed to earlier in the week.
Lui told the judge that he wanted to raise concerns about a request from his former employer, Wilson’s Hospital School, to correct portions of certain sworn documents on behalf of the school in the case.
The judge said both sides will receive an email about the matter later today, but he won’t hear from Mr. Burke in person. More than 50 cases were presented to the judge on Friday morning.
After Mr. Burke continued speaking, the judge left the courtroom. Enoch and Ammi Burke remained, although they were told by a garda and court usher, Ian Barclay, that the judge was telling them to leave.
Mr Burke told the Garda that he has not stopped the trial and he has no intention of doing so, reports RTE.
When proceedings resumed about an hour later. Mr. Burke attempted to continue to appeal the court. The judge said he would not allow court business to be disrupted and ordered Gardai to remove Mr Burke.
Two Gardai then took Mr Burke by the arms and escorted him out of the courtroom, telling him he could sit outside but not re-enter.
Mr Burke said it was a “disgrace” and had a right to be heard. He stood looking through the glass door of courtyard number three, accompanied by a garda.
Ammi Burke remained in court and refused to go despite repeated requests from the two members of An Garda Síochána.
He asked “Where is Judge Brian O’Moore” and asked why he was hiding and what he was afraid of, reports RTE.
Ms Burke was then removed from the courtroom with the help of another Garda woman.
Both Burke brothers stood out, accompanied by Gardai, while Judge O’Moore returned to the dugout and went through the rest of his list.
It sounds tremendously pompous at times, the judge said, but in reality, it’s absolutely vital that people who want to bring their case to court are not impeded by activities that shouldn’t be taking place.
RTE reports that he said the court would continue with its business and that he felt able to speak “about the behaviour in court for the last number of hours,” reports RTE.
At approximately 2.15pm, when it became clear that the courts were closed for the day, Mr Burke and his sister left the Four Courts without comment.
The court was originally scheduled to review Mr Burke’s contempt of court after he was fined €700 a day two weeks ago for continuing to violate a court order.
Mr. Burke’s appeal of the restraining orders issued against him is scheduled for next week.
The hearing in the Court of Appeal is scheduled for Monday. His fines for contempt of court now total more than €10,000, but Enoch Burke still has solid support online from the origin of the whole debacle where a student wanted to be referred to as “they” pronoun.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.