Jemima Burke, a sister of jailed schoolteacher Enoch Burke, has initiated a High Court action concerning the circumstances of her conviction for a public order offence.
Her application for leave to bring the judicial review challenge has been listed for hearing before the court in November.
Ms Burke (30), of Cloonsunna, Castlebar, Co Mayo, was convicted at Ballina District Court last June of a public order offence, and fined €350 over her behaviour outside an inquest into the death of a man who drowned after leaving Mayo University Hospital in January 2023.
The inquest into the death of Patrick Rowland, from Lahardane, Co Mayo, heard he was suffering from pneumonia and sepsis and was agitated and suffering from sleep dehydration after being on a trolley for 43 hours before being transferred to a ward.
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Ms Burke appeared before Judge Vincent Deane at a special sitting of Ballina District Court on June 20th after being arrested that afternoon on Market Street, Swinford, Co Mayo.*
She was charged with two counts of breaching the public order act relating to separate incidents on the afternoon of June 20th at Davitt Place and Market Street.
On both counts, she was charged with using or engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace might have been occasioned, contrary to section 6 of the Public Order Act.
Following evidence of the arresting garda, Ms Burke was convicted and fined €350 on count two, with count one taken into consideration.
On Monday, she filed High Court proceedings against the District Court and the DPP arising from the circumstances of her conviction. Her ex parte action — one side only represented — for leave to bring the judicial review case has been listed for November 24th.
Ms Burke’s brother, Enoch, remains in prison for civil contempt of High Court orders restraining his attendance at Wilson’s Hospital School in Co Westmeath.
* This article was edited on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024
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