Throwing eggs and shouting personal abuse at people is not an acceptable form of political protest, a former adviser to Joan Burton has told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday.
Karen O'Connell, who along with Ms Burton spent three-and-a-half hours inside garda vehicles surrounded by water charges protesters in Jobstown, Tallaght, Co Dublin, in 2014, said that if people think they can throw an egg at a woman who works for a politician, or shout c**t at a woman, "then where do you draw the line"?
She said she did not think it was acceptable for people to throw eggs at politicians. She accepted that she was a member of Ms Burton’s “kitchen cabinet” at the time, but “that doesn’t mean I deserve to be egged”.
Ms O'Connell was answering questions from Michael O'Higgins SC, for defendant Ken Purcell. Mr O'Higgins said he accepted that shouting words such as "bitch" and "c**t" was the antithesis of political debate and it was not in dispute that what had happened on the day in question was "upsetting and frightening" at times, but, he suggested, at other times the situation became calm and on occasion was "terribly boring".
Ms O’Connell said she could not speak for what Mr O’Higgins thought had happened. Her recall was of being surrounded with people shouting at her and Ms Burton for quite a duration. She was “very frightened for three and a half hours, crying at times.”
When she and Ms Burton had to move between garda cars, she said she had a “heightened experience of fear and anxiety. I was really petrified.I don’t accept your suggestion that it was calm.”
People are allowed to take to the streets when a minister comes to visit and say “we think what you’re doing is rotten and it hasn’t measured up to what you promised us,” Mr O’Higgins said.
“There is a difference between peaceful protest and what happened in Jobstown that day,” Ms O’Connell said. “What we saw that day was at times violent and it wasn’t peaceful.”
Solidarity TD Paul Murphy, of Kingswood Heights, Tallaght, is accused of the false imprisonment of Ms Burton by restricting her personal liberty without her consent on November 15th, 2014, at Fortunestown Road, Jobstown, Co Dublin. He is also accused of a second charge in relation to the same offence against Ms O'Connell.
Also facing the same charges are: Kieran Mahon, Bolbrook Grove, Tallaght, and Michael Murphy, Whitechurch Way, Ballyboden, both of whom are Solidarity councillors with South Dublin County Council; Scott Masterson, a self-employed courier, of Carrigmore Drive, Tallaght; Mr Purcell, a precision operative, of Kiltalown Green, Tallaght; Frank Donaghy, a retired construction worker, of Alpine Rise, Belgard Heights, Tallaght, and Michael Banks, of Brookview Green, Tallaght, whom the court was told does not have an occupation that brings him into contact with the public.
All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ms O’Connell was giving evidence on her third day in the witness box and is now finished her evidence.
When Mr O’Higgins showed a video which, he said, showed a relatively calm situation, with people and gardaí surrounding the unmarked garda Avensis in which the witness and Ms Burton were sitting, Ms O’Connell said the video showed “we were surrounded and trapped in a car and unable to leave. We were entirely surrounded and prevented from leaving.”
Mr O’Higgins asked if the witness had been given legal advice on the meaning of false imprisonment. She said she had not. Ms O’Connell was asked about her use of the phrase “the f**king dregs” at one stage on a video taken near the end of the day’s events. She said she was referring to the fact that it was often the case that, near of the end of a protest, some of the protesters would not want it to end.
She said Mr O’Higgins was trying to characterise her as using the phrase to mean “the dregs of society” and as being someone who “looks down on people,” and she took exception to that. “I was not casting aspersions on anyone.”
Earlier video footage taken from inside the car was shown in which Paul Murphy could be see seen at the back of the car, looking into it, standing alongside Mr Banks, who at one stage holds up two fingers towards the inside of the car and says, “up your arse, Joan”.
When Nicola Cox BL, for Mr Banks, said crude language and gesturing was not unusual for a protest, Ms O'Connell said she did not agree.
The trial, before Judge Monica Greally and a jury, is adjourned until Tuesday.
