belmullet court case 14 may 2008
mayo |
environment |
news report 
Wednesday May 14, 2008 13:35
by EB - SHELL TO SEA
ed collins
At Belmullet District Court today the Garda prosecution against Erris man Ed Collins (arising out of the Ogoni Nine memorial march and subsequent baton-charging of demonstrators by Gardai on 10th November 2006) reached its conclusion
At Belmullet District Court today the Garda prosecution against Erris man Ed Collins (arising out of the Ogoni Nine memorial march and subsequent baton-charging of demonstrators by Gardai on 10th November 2006) reached its conclusion
Judge Devins said she had closely studied her extensive notes from previois sittings, and said that the whole case could be summed up in one word… “confusion!”
She stated that, in her opinion, none of the evidence presented to the court, either oral or video, prosecution or defence, tallied with each other.
After re-visiting the site of the alleged “incidents” (including previous cases) Judge Devins concluded that “the only culprit down there” was the drain.
She also commented that even if the burden of proof on the prosecution was less than it is, no-one could make a proper assessment of what actually occurred that day.
Given all of this, Judge Devins ruled that the case against Ed Collins be dismissed.
Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Delighted to hear it. Well done Ed.
A reminder of what it was like on November 10th 2006 at Bellanaboy Bridge- It is shocking that the ONLY prosecution arising from that day was of a protester who was seriously injured.
There will be a public meeting in Dublin tomorrow night about the policing of Rossport protests - Liberty Hall, Beresford Place, Dublin 1 Thursday May 15th at 7PM.
Shame on those Gardai who behave like licenced thugs. Best wishes to Ed, who was so badly treated for daring to join a legal & peaceful protest for the sake of his & his neighbours' rights & homelands.
good work Ed for sticking it out. It takes guts to stand up to the bullies. I wonder if we will be hearing about this judgement on mid west radio and rte? Will Confused Local, Erris Exile, and the rest be on here discussing it?
Comhghairdeas Ed. The high profile maintained by the 'Shell chun Sáile' publicity machine played a significant part in ensuring that the state couldn't pull off another miscarriage aginst the citizens of Erris.
congrats Ed. I met you briefly once and heard your story. I hope you are making a good recovery.
its clear the gardai were being proactive because they were in the wrong.
I hope you get some justice.
Well done Ed and to your solicitor Ed McGarr.
You never had a case to answer. It was you who was assaulted, hospitalised and permanently injured by Gardaí.
Yet they sought to twist things and to lie in order to prosecute you. Maliciously.
What a horrible and disgusting state of affairs that is. I know no Garda who will stand up to change that. To simply do the right thing. No guts, no balls. Bullies hiding behind the protection of the state and a stale and biased judiciary.
Best wishes to you in any legal action you may take yourself now. Don't shy from it. Do it.
Success.
Congratulations for speaking up the truth an showing that you are not afriad, Your Lawyer was BRILLANT; good luck to you and your family. And may GOD BLESS YOU ALL
congratulations ed! great news for you and your family, and of course all at shell to sea. the state has done its best to grind our community down and use Garda violence to crush us. The imfamous judge devins and the court process yet another battle which no one in S2S should have had to go through. but we support each other and we will continue to campaign. i have full respect for all your courage ed. c'ya soon!
you can beat us
you can imprison us
but as long as we are alive
we will protest
in solidarity. i hope tuesday's court case for s2s campaigners goes as well.
shell to sea! x
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