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A WOMAN WHO claimed to be an “environmental conscientious objector” received a 12-month suspended sentence after she was found guilty of stealing € 500 in Sitka Spruce belonging to Coillte after she used a chainsaw to cut down more than 200 trees in a forest in Co Cork.
Following a trial in Cork Circuit Criminal Court last February, Judge Sean O’Donnabhain ordered the jury to find Shered Jones (61) innocent of criminal damages in a Coillte forest near his home in Maughnaclea, Kealkill.
The trial had heard that 250 trees were cut down in the forest and 250 more were cut down.
The jury found her guilty of a second count of dishonest appropriation of felled fir wood from Kealkill between November 1, 2018 and December 4, 2018 worth € 500.
Jones said he had the right to search for food under the old law. She told the court that she was one of the protectors of the land who managed part of the forest because of her love for the native trees of Ireland.
However, she said she was willing to give up cutting and removing firewood from the plantation next to her home.
“I understand that I’m not going to do that again without Coillte’s permission.”
The case was adjourned until today to see if Jones would keep his commitment to the court.
Defense attorney Peter Flynn said “there had been no problem” since the case earlier this year. He told the court that there had also been a positive development with Coillte.
He said a Coillte official had visited the site where Sionad had planted broadleaf trees and had agreed to protect those trees with a fence from deer. He said Coillte had also committed to planting other trees adjacent to the site.
Judge Sean O’Donnabhain ordered that the chainsaw and other equipment used by Jones be confiscated.
He imposed a 12-month sentence that he suspended for a 12-month period. This followed Jones’ promise that he would behave well and keep the peace during that period.
A jubilant Jones said she has no regrets about going to court.
“Hopefully, as more spruce trees in the vicinity reach a size that they are ready to harvest, Coillte will remove them and replace them with broadleaf trees.”
During the trial, Jones told the court that she carried out her fir removal campaign in the West Cork forest, owned by Coillte since 1995, to promote native Irish broadleaf trees, and that she herself planted those trees in clearings that he had restored in the forest. spruce.
Jones from Maughanaclea, Kealkill, Bantry, Co Cork was well supported during the trial with up to 25 people taking part in a demonstration outside the building.
Coillte official Donal Murphy said he learned of chainsaw activity in a Coillte-owned forest on the outskirts of Kealkill in 2018.
He met Garda Fintan Coffey at the place where Garda Coffey said that a short time later he saw a green Toyota Starlet car approaching from the woods and when he stopped, Jones got out.
Police said his clothes were covered in sawdust and that he later saw a chainsaw in his car.
Garda Coffey said Jones confirmed at the scene that he had been cutting down fir trees in the forest.
In a subsequent Garda interview, he said he had been acting to protect his local environment and promote biodiversity.
As proof, Jones described herself as “a protector of the Earth.”
Originally from Wales, she moved to Ireland in 1987 and lived in a small country house on the outskirts of Kealkill.
He claimed that the local landscape and environment had been transformed over the past 32 years with Coillte’s planting of thousands of acres of forests with Sitka spruce, a non-native species.
“I was shocked, outraged and appalled,” she said.
Jones said he had also planted nearly 100 native Irish trees in Kealkill forest, including oak, birch, roan and hazelnut.
Some of these were grown in their own cottage nursery from acorns and seedlings.
Jones said the vast spruce forest also threatened the local environment, as the spruce needles cause the soil and water to become more acidic.
Rather, he said, a mix of native trees helps maintain a proper balance between nature and waterways.
Jones said she was very concerned about the possible spill of pesticides entering the groundwater and thus the water well.
However, Coillte insisted that it was a mature ‘free-growing forest’ without the use of chemicals.
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Jones said he was just trying to protect the environment.
“I am concerned about the kind of environment that we leave for future generations,” he said.
“I am a conscientious protector. We are here to protect the earth from danger and to work for biodiversity ”.
“I am not a criminal. He was acting to protect the ecology and the environment. “
She insisted that she wanted Coillte to plant more native tree species.
“I apologize if I have caused inconvenience to (any) Coillte employee. But this was not an inauguration. I have done it with the best of intentions ”.
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