'Impervious to reason': Judge jails Enoch Burke's mother and sister for contempt of court
The judge made an order for the attachment of Martina Burke (right) and Ammi Burke (left) for their immediate committal to prison. Picture: Collins Courts
The mother and sister of jailed schoolteacher Enoch Burke have been sentenced to two week's imprisonment each after they were found in contempt of court over their behaviour in the High Court.
Last month, both women were ejected by gardaí from Mr Justice Brian Cregan’s courtroom in the Four Courts after interrupting a sitting involving the jailed schoolteacher and shouting at the bench.
"It is long past time for the court to call a halt to this family circus," the judge said.
And today Mr Justice Brian Cregan is also considering that Mrs Martina Burke, Ammi Burke and her brother Isaac Burke not be allowed to attend hearings in person at the Four Courts involving Enoch Burke in the future, but possibly by videolink.
The judge made an order for the attachment of Martina Burke and Ammi Burke for their immediate committal to prison. Isaac Burke who was in court said his mother and sister were at their place of employment and not in court.
In the High Court on Wednesday, Mr Justice Cregan found Mrs Martina Burke and her solicitor daughter Ammi Burke were in contempt of court.
In relation to Mrs Burke, he said she could change her son’s “disastrous course of action”, but the judge said the Burkes were “impervious to reason”. The judge added: “The rule of law applies to them whether they accept it or not.”
He said Mrs Burke submitted that her son was unjustly imprisoned. “That is simply not true,” the judge said. He added that to say Enoch Burke is being denied his constitutional rights is ridiculous.
The disruption in the court on February 20, where proceedings had to be temporarily suspended and where the two women had to be removed from the court by gardaí, occurred where Mr Justice Cregan dismissed as “moot” a case Enoch Burke took against a disciplinary appeals panel examining his dismissal by the board of management of Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath.
Enoch Burke joined the proceedings in the High Court today by videolink from Castlerea Prison, where he was moved to from Mountjoy Prison last weekend.
Isaac Burke was in court for the judgment. At the outset the registrar asked was there any any appearance on or behalf of Martina and Ammi Burke, but there was no answer.
After the judgement was handed down, Enoch Burke said it was a "fearful and nefarious" judgement and he told the judge "there is a higher judge" and he will "account to God." Mr Justice Cregan warned Enoch Burke "don't threaten me."
Enoch Burke said his mother and sister were to be locked up and they were people of integrity.
The judge in his ruling said that Mrs Burke had complained bitterly that her son has been imprisoned for over 600 days.
"That should be a badge of shame for him. That is 600 days he has refused to obey a court order, 600 days where he has refused to accept the rule of law," the judge said.
The judge said there was simply no reasoning with her or with any member of the Burke family he has encountered in court.
"They are impervious to reason. Theirs is a faith-riven ideology which refuses to accept the rule of law."
The judge said there was no exemption for Christian evangelicals or climate change activists or animal rights activists or anti-abortion protestors. "The law applies equally to all persons who seek to deliberately interrupt court proceedings and seek to disrupt them," he said.
Referring to Ammi Burke, a solicitor, the judge said she knows perfectly well the rules of conduct in court. Ammi's conduct on February 20, he said, was "a deliberate and brazen contempt of court".
Mr Justice Cregan said her behaviour was "disgraceful and indefensible " particularly given that she is a trained solicitor.
He said he was going to send certain papers on the matter to the Law Society's relevant disciplinary committee to consider if it should open a disciplinary investigation into Ms Burke.
Last week, during a contempt of court hearing, Martina and Ammi were asked to make submissions on why they should not be found in contempt in the face of the court over their repeated interruptions and refusals to sit down during a previous hearing, despite warnings not to do so.
Martina spent some time saying that her son should not be in jail, and how Judge Cregan and other judges had failed to vindicate his constitutional right to freedom of religion.
She also claimed her son was in prison because he refused to comply with a "command" from the former principal of Wilson's Hospital, Niamh McShane, to use the plural "they/them" pronoun for a singular student and over her son's decision to "go against the promotion of sodomy and transgender ideology".
The failure of the judges to vindicate that right was a "blot on the judiciary and the blood is dripping from the hands of the judiciary,” she said.
In her submissions, Ammi said in three and a half years — during which Enoch has spent some 600 days in prison for contempt — there had been 11 judges who dealt with his case who denied his constitutional rights.
Enoch Burke was dismissed from his position at Wilson’s Hospital School, Co Westmeath over his conduct towards the then-principal at a school religious event in June 2022. She had earlier requested teachers to address a student by a new name and the pronouns “they” and “them”.
Mr Burke has repeatedly breached the court order to stay away from the school and was up until now incarcerated at Mountjoy Prison over this contempt of court. He has spent over 600 days in separate spells in jail.
He has repeatedly claimed he has been jailed over his religious beliefs and views on transgender issues, a claim rejected by several High Court judges.
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