The father of jailed teacher Enoch Burke has told a judge he does not recollect throwing a female garda to the ground in the Court of Appeal and claimed it was “completely accidental” if it did happen.
Sean Burke, who is in his 60s, denies assaulting Bridewell Garda Victoria Fisher in the Four Courts on 7 March 2023.
His daughter Ammi Burke, 33, a qualified solicitor, pleads not guilty to obstructing a garda who arrested her brother Simeon Burke, 25, on the same date just outside the building.
The arrests happened when Enoch Burke was involved in a legal dispute before the Court of Appeal and his sacking by Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath, following a dispute between him and the then-principal of the school over using “they/them” pronouns for a student.
On 9 May, Sean and Ammi Burke were found guilty at Dublin District Court, which heard evidence from 11 garda witnesses.
The District Court had applied the Probation of Offenders Act in the case of Sean Burke, sparing him a recorded conviction. However, Ammi Burke was convicted and €400, to be handed over within 12 months.
They appealed the verdict, which came before Judge Ronan Munro and ran over two days last month.
The hearing continued all day and into yesterday evening at Cloverhill Court in Dublin. Judge Munro told the Burkes he would deliver his judgment on 17 December.
He heard that the Court of Appeal had delivered a ruling telling Enoch Burke that the action taken by the school against him was not about beliefs regarding gender.
He noted from the audio recording of the hearing that the court rose twice, and the three Court of Appeal judges left the bench following interruptions or shouting from the Burkes.
Mr Justice George Birmingham had warned them to be quiet, or they would be removed, returned and said if there were further disruptions, the judgment would be delivered electronically instead.
Judge Munro noted that Mr Justice Birmingham warned them about ten times, and when the judges left the second time, the Burkes stayed in the court.
Gardaí removed Ammi Burke and then Simeon, who was holding onto benches, before bringing their mother, Martina Burke, out.
Sean and Ammi Burke argue that they should not have been charged because there was no order or legal power to remove them from the court, which the prosecution disputed.
Ammi Burke put her hand on a male garda’s arm for a few seconds while he was carrying Simeon out to the front of the building, and she contended that she did not mount to wilful obstruction.
The court heard gardaí were being called a disgrace and told to go Tallaght and “you are not in China now” by members of the Burke group. Judge Munro heard gardaí had heard there were comments they were bowing at “the altar of transgenderism”.
In evidence, Sean Burke said he had respect for gardaí and the courts, but he was shocked at a remark made by the Court of Appeal judge that Enoch Burke had been talking in “soundbites” or that the proceedings were not about “transgenderism”.
He said his family “raised an objection, we spoke and objected to this,” adding that he had affirmed the objection.
Sean Burke asserted that it was not a normal situation and “the country knows, the world knows it is about transgenderism”.
He said he was concerned when his wife was removed from the courtroom and went after her, but it was in a narrow, congested aisle, and he did not see Garda Fisher due to the height disparity between them.
Garda Fisher had told the court that he put his hand on her and flung her down against a radiator, causing bruising and pain.
Other gardaí also told Judge Munro they witnessed Sean Burke knocking her down.
Sean Burke said he never saw her and had no recollection of her being there. He referred to the CCTV evidence emerging from the courtroom seconds after him.
He rejected the assault allegation outright and said that he would not consciously treat a garda like that, and if it happened, it was “completely accidental and unknown to me”, and he felt it was wrong that the prosecution had been brought against him.
Emer Ni Chuagain BL, prosecuting, put it to him that he remembered other things and that he was being “selective”, which he did not accept.
Simeon Burke, now a barrister, had been prosecuted for a Public Order Act offence for using threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour in the court. He was initially convicted in the District Court but had the verdict overturned on appeal earlier this year.
He also gave evidence as a defence witness at the hearing yesterday and disputed claims that the reason for his arrest was given to him. He claimed he did not know it until later in the garda station.
Simeon Burke agreed that then, as a student barrister, he had learned about court decorum.
He and his father testified after opting to take the affirmation instead of the oath.
Judge Munro ordered their mother out of his court due to interruptions, that Ammi Burke maintained was in response to hearing a curse uttered in court, which she thought came from the bench.
Judge Munro said Martina Burke would not be banished and would be welcome to attend on the next date but warned that she must not interrupt the proceedings.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment for the assault and one year for obstructing an arrest.
