Support those arrested on saturday!

by Karl Sun May 02, 2004 23:54

Any chance of directions for bridewell police station ?

by legal support Mon May 03, 2004 00:04

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by Buenacasa - Dublin Grassroots Network Mon May 03, 2004 11:46

Two DGN members attended court last night in Cloverhill to observe. We didn't arrive in time for the first few cases. The sitting lasted until nearly 4am.

Most charges were made under Sections 6 & 8 of the Public Order Act, which I think are failing to comply with the directions of a Garda and a breach of the Peace. At least two were charged with Section 4, ie of being drunk in a public place. One man was charged with stealing a Garda's cap.

Many of them were granted bail but obviously could not fulfill the criteria at the hour of the morning. Therefore they remained in custody. Most of the accused were Irish (90% of the cases we sat through)

Some of the charged were confused as to the proceedure and their rights and occassionaly seemed quite intimidated by the whole event. The judge was minimal in assisting them in understanding things like their entitlements to a solicitor under the Free Legal Aid scheme and at least one person missed out on a solicitor.

Bail seemed very strict for what were quite minor charges. The court usually required €500 surety from the defendent, €500 independent surety (and proof of means to supply it, e.g. a bank statement), and a cash lodgement of €500. Obviously everybody had such difficulty meeting such conditions of that hour in the morning that they remained in custody. Most of the accused have to sign on at a local Garda station daily until Wednesday.

Most people were remanded until Wednesday 5th May at 10.30am. Some to Cloverhill, some may be in other courts (I'm not sure)

Mr Paul Byrne (perhaps Burns) a solicitor who acted for some of the accused attempted to persuade the judge to ease the bail requirements for what are very minor charges. I understand that Bail requirments would normally be much lower.

The judge declined unless there were mitigating circumstances such as illness or, in the case of one man, perhaps because of his plea that he had no part in the demo. The judge replied to Mr Byrne that in 17 years on the bench he had never sat at 3.30 in the morning. The solicitor questioned the relevance of this in setting bail conditions for Public Order charges, but the judge was not swayed.

The Garda Sergeant objected to Bail for many of the accused on the grounds that the accused wasn't known to the Gardai and therefore they couldn't verify his or her identity or address. However a number of the accused did have some form of identification on them, including passports and driving licences. Normally not being known to the Gardai would be a good thing from the authorities point of view.

Most of the accused were young, early twenties and a good few were part-time workers and part-time students. I understand that at least one of the accused has been released on bail on Sunday.

by solitary confinement Mon May 03, 2004 18:19

Aren't they supposed to get the earliest opportunity to go to court?

Let me guess, all the EU accession stuff will be over by then... and therefore this amounts to keeping them off the streets until it's all over.