Enoch Burke’s younger brother Simeon charged with abusive behaviour after court chaos

Simeon Burke (24) was arrested and brought before Dublin District Court this evening accused of causing a breach of the peace at the Four Courts earlier today.

The disturbance is alleged to have happened as appeal judges rejected Enoch Burke's appeal against High Court injunctions directing him not to trespass at a Co Westmeath school.

Simeon Burke had been among family members at that hearing to support his brother.

The accused, of Cloonsoona, Castlebar, Co Mayo is charged with using threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour at the Four Courts today.

The charge is under Section 6 of the Public Order Act.

Judge Paula Murphy granted him bail and adjourned the case to Cloverhill District Court next Tuesday. Mr Burke told the court he would not sign the bail bond and was remanded in custody with consent to bail.

The accused told the court he had been assaulted by gardai and treated in a “brutal fashion” by them because his family objected to “having transgenderism forced down the throats of the people of this country."

He told Judge Murphy to “stop this process now” and said “I’m not signing anything, I’m not a criminal here and I won’t be treated as such.”

Garda Conor Dwyer told Judge Murphy he was called to the Four Courts at 3.23pm where a man was allegedly shouting and provoking a breach of the peace, with several members of the public around.

They escorted the accused outside and he was shouting in an aggressive manner, he said.

“I tried to reason with him and he did not comply,” he said.

He was later charged, made no reply after caution and refused garda station bail.

The judge asked Simeon Burke if he had a solicitor.

“I can speak for myself,” he replied. “This process needs to be stopped, I was unlawfully arrested and I have been treated shamefully and disgracefully by the gardai. I am shocked and shaken to the core by what happened. It’s nothing short of disgraceful.”

He said he had gone to the Court of Appeal today, as every citizen had a right to do, and during his time there the president of the court “made statements, they were horrific statements, about transgenderism, justifying why it should be shoved down the throats of people in this country.”

This was not only in schools but universities and was contrary to the Constitution, he said. He said citizens had religious rights and rights to express themselves freely.

Judge Murphy said that was a matter for the hearing of the case.

The family raised objections to what the judge said, Mr Burke continued.

“A mob of gardai invaded the courtroom and assaulted my sister Ammi Burke, a solicitor,” he claimed.

He said the gardai also assaulted his brother Enoch who had spent 108 days in prison because he "would not be forced to accept transgenderism in the school where he works.”

“He was assaulted by a mob of gardai and left bleeding by a mob of gardai,” Mr Burke continued. “What happened next is the gardai were making their way towards my mother after assaulting my sister and my brother, and I was in the pathway of the gardai as they moved to continue their violence against my mother.”

He was then “targeted” and attacked by gardai who “manhandled” him and “pushed him out of the courtroom," he claimed.

He alleged the gardai swore at him and one said “eff him out of the courtroom,” with another swearing at him as he was driven to court.

When he raised this with the gardai, he claimed, the reply was “yes, I am swearing at you.”

“I am shocked, I am shaken to my core,” Mr Burke told the court. “I am not a criminal. Transgenderism shouldn’t be forced down the throats of people. For the judge to have made that comment was wrong.”

“My shirt was ripped open, I have been left bleeding, my clothes have been taken from me, I have been brought in like a criminal. You have a responsibility to stop this process right now.” He told the judge she had a “duty before God” and she had sworn before God to uphold the Constitution and the law.

“It’s shameful how I have been treated, I have been treated in a brutal fashion as have been my family,” he said, and this was because they raised objections “to having transgenderism forced down the throats of the people of this country.”

The court heard there was no garda objection to bail subject to conditions and the judge set bail in his own bond of €200, with no cash lodgement required.

Under conditions, he is to stay away from the Four Courts and sign on three times weekly at his local garda station.

“I’m not signing anything, I’m not a criminal here and I won’t be treated as such,” Mr Burke said.

The judge asked if he would not be taking up bail. “I will not be treated like a criminal, judge,” he said.

Several Burke family members in the public gallery were heard to say “shameful” while the accused’s mother Martina asked: “Where are his shoes?” and “Why were his clothes ripped off him?”

“Shame on all of you,” Enoch Burke said as his brother was led away by prison guards. “Absolutely disgraceful.”

His parents, his sister Ammi and his other brother Isaac were also in the district court for this afternoon’s hearing.

At the earlier Court of Appeal hearing, Enoch Burke lost an appeal aimed at overturning court orders preventing him from teaching or attending Wilson’s Hospital School in Multyfarnham in Co Westmeath.

The three-judge court, in three separate judgments, dismissed the appeal. The delivery of the judgments was interrupted several times with gardai eventually intervening to remove members of the family.