Five prison officers held hostage in Mountjoy last year were threatened with strangulation and had blood-filled syringes held to their throats. One of the syringes was found to contain infected blood. Four of the officers probably will never return to the service. One has recently resumed work.
Det Insp Hubert Collins told Judge Cyril Kelly at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that six prisoners held the five officers hostage for almost 53 hours after their pre-planned peaceful roof protest failed when they encountered solid concrete. He said some of the hostages believed they would die in the siege. One of them spoke of "making his peace with God". Six officers had been taken hostage, and one was released after 30 minutes.
Eamonn Seery (33), of Coultry Road, Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning a prison officer in Mountjoy Jail from January 2nd to January 6th, 1997. Four other similar charges relating to other officers were taken into account.
Det Insp Collins agreed with Mr Michael O'Higgins, defending, that Seery was described by hostages as the most stable of the six prisoners in the siege and did not threaten them with the same violence as the others.
Judge Kelly remanded him in custody overnight to decide a date for sentence. He did not believe justice would be served by all those allegedly involved being dealt with individually, depending on how their cases were decided.
Det Insp Collins told Mr Desmond Dockery, prosecuting, that the prisoners tied two hostages back-to-back to a chair with a rope made of shoelaces round their necks. The rope was connected to a door and a radiator so that if anyone opened the door the hostages could have been strangled or at least seriously injured.
Weapons included the syringe with infected blood, a makeshift syringe filled with a blood-like substance, iron bars and a knife. The iron bars consisted of table-legs from one of the cells.
Det Insp Collins told Mr Dockery the prisoners' initial motivation was to get on to the roof of the recreation area in the separation unit of Mountjoy. One of the prisoners bored through a false ceiling but found the roof was made of solid concrete. The prisoners had intended to highlight conditions in the prison, alleged ill-treatment by prison officers and a demand for transfers. One of them was protesting his innocence.
The siege ended following negotiation involving prison staff, gardai and officials from the Department of Justice. When it ended, the prisoners were moved to Portlaoise as they were considered a high security risk.
Seery was sentenced to eight years in 1993 for grievous bodily harm and was due for release on August 27th, 1999. He had 10 previous convictions and had only been outside prison for about 11 weeks since 1984.