Shell to Sea cases heard in Belmullet

mayo | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday September 13, 2007 00:21 by Serpico

One case dismissed, others deferred.

A number of cases relating to the Shell to Sea campaign were heard in Belmullet District Court in Mayo on Wednesday 12th of September. What follows is a very brief account of some of them.

Outside the court in Belmullet

Two supporters of the campaign were punished by having their driving licenses suspended, for an incident where one of them was found to be driving uninsured for a short distance. Another protester was tried for an alleged assault on a Garda on election day, and his case has been deferred. Since the case relates to the presence of a Garda inside the polling station in Rossport , the judge is seeking guidance on the issue of why there was a police presence inside the polling station all day. A second case relating to the same protester has been referred to the Circuit Criminal Court for hearing in October.

The court heard evidence from four gardaí relating to the case of a protester who was accused of abusive and aggressive behaviour towards the cops, obstruction of peat lorries, and other related public order offences, including refusing the area when instructed by the gardaí.

However the judge found after hearing the evidence for more than two hours, that the case did not seem to stack up. The protester was the only person arrested at the site on June 29th, even though the gardaí estimated that there were around 100 people at the site that day. It was brought into question whether or not one of the guards was fit for duty on the day due to excessive consumption of alcohol; an accusation initially vigorously denied in court then merely transmuted to an unremembered incident. The Guards denied that this exchange had ever taken place. There were also very strange anomalies relating to the video evidence and the content of garda statements, and discrepancies between them and oral statements and notebooks.

One of the arresting gardaí admitted that he had no notebook and that he had not made any attempt to record information such as times and wording of statements, and seemed to believe that his recollection was enough, even though it was directly contradicted by the garda video.

After a short break, the judge returned to say that she did not want to hear anymore, and was dismissing the case. Many have claimed that the courts are biased against the Shell to Sea protest, but the evidence presented today was not good enough to sway even the most biased
adjudicator.

Other cases were deferred to later sittings of the court. The five protesters involved in the lock on protest at Srathmore earlier this year will be given their verdict tomorrow, Thursday 13th. Submissions relating to the case were briefly discussed.

There were a number of strange incidents earlier in the day. In one, reported separately on Indymedia, the court was cleared and all those except the gardaí were searched for cameras and recorders. Later the judge made mention of receiving "hate mail" and pages from this very website printed out. On a legal technicality it had been suggested that the judge rule herself out of presiding on a case involving a protester who had been been before her in a previous case.

Many people involved in the Shell to Sea campaign have stressed today that they wish to repudiate any cowardly attacks on the character of the judge, and the campaign has no place in it for "hate mail" or anonymous letters.

Protester at the refinery site this morning

Security Guard at the site