A High Court judge told Enoch Burke’s mother her son could be released from prison today, while she and her daughter face jail for contempt of court.
Judge Brian Cregan questioned why Martina Burke does not use her influence to help Enoch walk free from jail. Yesterday, Mrs Burke accused the court of being an ‘abomination’ and ‘a blot on the administration of justice’.
She and her daughter, Ammi, face being sent to prison for contempt, following what the judge described as their ‘shouting and roaring’ in the court last week.
Mrs Burke yesterday defended her ‘duty to speak the truth’. She said her son was ‘languishing in Mountjoy’, describing him as ‘upright, genuine, sincere, righteous, godly, an excellent teacher, a young man’.
She accused the courts of not standing up for Mr Burke’s constitutional right to practise his religion as a teacher at Wilson’s Hospital School.
‘He’s still behind bars,’ she shouted. ‘That’s the blood that is dripping from the hands of the judiciary. And the citizens of this country know [Enoch] should not be in prison.’
The judge said to her: ‘Even allowing for the fact you are incensed your son has been imprisoned, and you say he has been imprisoned because of his religious beliefs, you have read all of the judgments of the High Court that say (a) he is entitled to his religious belief, but (b) there is a court order that he should not trespass on the school.
‘You know perfectly well he is not imprisoned because of his religious beliefs, he is imprisoned because of his trespass on the school… I would have thought you would have supported him in his stand against transgender ideology, but have accepted… he should not trespass.’
Mrs Burke said Wilson’s Hospital had no right to ‘command’ him to use the ‘they’ pronoun when referring to a transitioning child.
Judge Cregan said he had been dismissed for gross misconduct due to not only his refusal to accept the direction, but also his conduct in relation to the refusal.
Mrs Burke called this a ‘concocted lie… because you don’t want to deal with the transgender issue… and every Christian will stand for the truth’.
Judge Cregan said he decided to invoke criminal contempt proceedings in relation to Martina and Ammi’s conduct last week, during a hearing relating to Enoch’s appeal.
Addressing Ammi Burke, he said: ‘You are a solicitor and an officer of the court, so you know perfectly well it is completely unacceptable to interrupt a court hearing, and to interfere with the administration of justice, and yet you did so.’
Ammi Burke replied: ‘I won’t sit by while constitutional rights are being denied, or lies are being told in court.’
Judge Cregan said he would reserve his judgment on the contempt issue and deliver it next Wednesday.
He also said he would reserve judgment on a request from Enoch to refer an affidavit by former Disciplinary Appeals Panel chairman Seán Ó Longáin to the DPP for alleged perjury, which is denied by Mr Ó Longáin.
Finally, the judge said an element of costs claimed by Wilson’s Hospital School will be referred to a legal adjudicator.