New trial for kelly in October.

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report Saturday June 19, 2004 00:33 by paul o toole pauljotoole at eircom dot net

Events in the case of the dpp vs. Mrs. Kelly.

Minutes before the first witness in the prosecution was to be called, in the re- trial of
peace activist, nurse Mary Kelly, her legal defense team abandoned her saying that they
‘no longer enjoyed the confidence or trust of their client’. A news camera man on the
steps of the courthouse was the first person to report the news to Mrs Kelly-not her
barrister.

A meeting ensued, then Mr. Brendan Nix S.C, Mrs.Antionette Simons B.L. and John
Devane solicitor, entered court to formally request their own dismissal and subsequently
walked out of court. Mrs Kelly remarked that ...‘this was actually the first time that I had
a meeting with all members of my own legal council present’.

Since the initial hung-Jury trial in July last year untill now, communication and
preperation were almost non existent according to Mrs. Kelly. This was evidenced in
court as judge Carrol Moran refused a subpoena to have the Attorney General Rory
Brady appear on the grounds that there were no less than five technical errors on the
subpoena application itself, including the wrong form to begin with and the wrong date.

Earlier, in another heated exchange , Mr. Nix S.C., told Mrs.Kelly that a new jury would
have to be sworn in if he had raised an objection to the prosecutions request to delay the
trial because their star witness ( the USAF pilot) missed his flight. I almost fell over
laughing when I heard this remark. The prosecution were granted more time to
accomodate their delayed star witness without any objection being raised by the defense,
while defense witness, Fmr. US. Attorney General Mr Ramsey Clarke was now unable to
give evidence because his schedule made him unable to stay past the weekend.

The general feeling from locals on the ground in Ennis was that Mrs .Kelly's action was justified. School kids wanted to meet her because they had heard about her non-violent direct action stopping a plane leaving the ground-at least temporarilly. Old people walked up to our gathering outside the courthouse grounds and simply voiced theirsupport. Some people stopped their cars in the middle of the street and ran over and uttered a string of profanity relating to G.W. Bush calling him... 'the new f***** Hitler, and that woman is in their trying to stop his war ...is rediculous'.

There has been a huge turnarround in general opinion amongst the public regarding the disarming of the plane in Shannon by Mrs. Kelly and after repair,again by the Pitstop-ploughshares. It would seem that people are generally getting the idea that stopping violence is what disarming this plane was all about.
The fact that the term violence is innapropriately being used in relation to an inanimate object is becoming clear to most if not all people. This is clearly the work of everyone but especially the people who have gone down to Ennis for weeks from Dublin and cork, Tralee and Galway groups to build awareness
If you are interested in celebrating resistance and becoming involved in a support group for the woman who stood up alone, to the US. military presence in Ireland dont hesitate. This case needs to be won for the sake of peace activists and anti-war groups in Ireland and internationally.

The story continnues ......in October. Be part of it






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