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Three men who denied causing criminal harm by crossing out Queen Victoria’s name on Cork street signs were described by the judge who heard their case as people of the utmost sincerity.
However, Judge Paul Kelly said: “That does not give them the right to break the law to further their convictions. I accept that they did not go out to cause senseless vandalism. It was very accurate damage in support of a particular point of view, but that is not allowed. I have to find the proven facts. ”
Instead of imposing a fine or any other sanction, the judge said that the payment of 250 euros for each man to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul as a charitable contribution would finalize the matter in the Cork District Court. The case was handled in Irish, but several witnesses testified in English.
An Irish language interpreter was available to translate some of the tests. This followed a successful legal challenge by one of the defendants, Diarmaid O Cadhla, of Upper Beaumont Drive, Ballintemple, Cork, asserting his right to have the case heard through Irish.
O’Cadhla and two co-defendants, Tom O’Connor, of 44 Mangerton Close, the Glen, and Tony Walsh of 25 Carrigmore Park, Ballinlough, denied criminal damage to street signs at three separate locations in Cork City on 2 February. 2017.
Garda Detective Neil Walsh gave evidence of the background that led to the charges.
“On February 2, 2017, street names in the city center: Victoria Road on both sides of the street, Victoria Cross Road on both sides of the street and Victoria Street on the north side of the city. They were damaged with black paint, particularly in the English and Irish name Victoria.
“I was commissioned to investigate following a complaint from Cork City Council.
“According to my inquiries, this was part of a campaign by a group called the Cork Street Names Campaign. This is a group that campaigns against the names of the streets: the names of the monarchy, in particular Queen Victoria, the queen of hunger who was called. Three suspects more or less were identified in an Irish Examiner article on February 3, 2017, with a photo of two of the suspects painting the street signs.
“Also on that date, Diarmuid O Cadhla did a radio interview with PJ Coogan on 96FM.”
State attorney Frank Nyhan said there were no disputes about the facts of the case as it pertains to the application of black paint, but the three defendants denied the prosecution’s claim that this constituted criminal mischief.
Donal Daly, Tom O’Connor’s attorney, said his defendant had attended the Cope Foundation from age 13 to 16. When Gardaí asked him what he knew about it, he said: “All I know is that I painted the damn posters. since I don’t like Victoria.
When asked again if he painted the posters, he said, “Yeah, I whipped him. My grandfather would be proud of me. He went to war. Then he came back and he was treated like shit. ”
Mr. Daly said there was no pointless vandalism or anything like that. The detective said yes. Judge Kelly commented on the surgical vandalism.
Cork City Council Services Director Gerry O’Byrne said the areas engineer estimated the cost of the damage to be 800 euros as the signs would have to be removed, taken to the warehouse, cleaned, repainted and returned. to the streets.
Daly suggested that the 800 euro figure was “a magical figure … ripped from the air … for a little paint for a couple of posters.” Tom O’Connor said: “Tomás MacCurtain stayed at my grandmother’s house in Cork.”
Regarding the criminal damage charge, he said: “We did not damage anything. They burned the city of Cork. They starved people. They don’t care about the houses they burned …
Attorney General Pat Horan called Anthony Walsh to testify, who testified: “I was personally offended by what the City Council did, making MacCurtain Street the Victoria Ward. It almost killed my soul.
“That man died so we could have a free country. And they did it in his memory. Terrible. Carr’s Hill Cemetery with 30,000 victims. We didn’t set out to do any harm. We were only making a point.”
Diarmuid O’Cadhla suggested that it was reasonable for people to paint these signs when they had been “denied dialogue” with the Cork City Council on the matter.
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