Man cleared of online hatred against Travellers

A LANDMARK case against a man who admitted creating a Facebook page called “Promote the use of knacker babies as shark bait” has been dismissed by a judge who said there was reasonable doubt about an intent to incite hatred towards members of the Travelling community.

Judge James O’Connor noted that while the comments made on Facebook were “obnoxious and revolting” it appeared that the remarks were a once-off and the man responsible had issued an apology.

In the first Irish case of its kind, Patrick Kissane, of Knockasartnett, Killarney, Co Kerry, appeared before the Killarney District Court yesterday charged with an offence under the Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 after he created the page on the social media site.

It contained phrases that suggested that Traveller babies should be used as shark bait as well as at feeding times in the zoo. Another phrase suggested that Travellers could be used for testing new drugs for viruses.

Two members of the Traveller community from Killarney, Patricia O’Brien and Mary Boyne, told the court that they had been made aware of the comments through an article in a community magazine called Changing Ireland.

They felt frightened for themselves and their children and made a formal complaint to gardaí in the hope that it would lead to a prosecution.

“I felt afraid for my own safety and for the safety of my children,” said Ms O’Brien. “I was afraid to walk down the streets of Killarney.”

Ms Boyne told the judge that despite her upset and shock, she was not subjected to any threat or hatred as a result of the comments.

Garda Stephen Hourigan, who received the complaint and interviewed Mr Kissane, said he thought the barman’s actions were outrageous.

“It was a direct attack against a group in society,” said the garda, who added that Mr Kissane had never come to the attention of gardaí before the case.

The court heard the matter could be traced back to an incident in October 2009 when Mr Kissane, 27, was working as a barman in The Granary in Killarney.

He claimed that up to 11 members of the Traveller community became abusive and threatening when he refused to serve them extra drinks after closing time in the bar following a funeral they had attended.

Mr Kissane told gardaí that they were shouting abuse at him and threatened to demolish him and the bar. They refused to leave until he sold them alcohol to take away. He said he felt intimidated, upset and angry and when he got home he spent a few minutes setting up the Facebook page, using terminology and an image from other online sources.

“I felt angry and powerless,” said Mr Kissane, who added that he set up the page to express his annoyance. “They had no reason to act like that to me.

“Sitting in front of the computer was the coward’s way of doing it because I wasn’t able to handle myself in the bar earlier. I wasn’t thinking straight,” he said.

The court was told Mr Kissane invited three friends to join his page and membership eventually grew to 644. He forgot all about it until three to four months later when he received an email from Facebook instructing him to remove the page.

Asked by defence solicitor Pat F O’Connor how he felt about his actions now, Mr Kissane replied: “Sickened by my own behaviour.”

The solicitor said his client had already wholeheartedly apologised for “a moment of gross stupidity” and he was repeating the apology in court.

He said Mr Kissane had nothing against members of the Traveller community and, in fact, he played soccer and had gone to school with Travellers and was friendly with members of the Traveller community.

Mr O’Connor stressed that no witness was produced in court to claim that they were subjected to hatred as a result of Mr Kissane’s actions and he said the whole issue of freedom of speech had to be considered.

The solicitor made reference to a recent newspaper column by journalist Emer O’Kelly, which was headlined “Free speech is what protects us from the poison of fascism” and he also recalled that the politician, philosopher and writer Dr Conor Cruise O’Brien had once argued that debate has a cleansing power.

Dismissing the case, Judge O’Connor said the once-off insertion of material, while revolting and insulting, could not be deemed to be an incitement to hatred and he noted that apart from his initial comments, Mr Kissane had not added to or commented on on the page until it was removed.