Joan Burton TD has told the ‘Jobstown Seven’ trial that she was terrified and felt she was running for her life before she eventually got away from a protest in Jobstown, Dublin 24 on November 15th 2014.
The former Tánaiste was giving evidence in the trial of seven men, including Solidarity TD Paul Murphy and two Dublin Councillors, who deny falsely imprisoning her and her adviser Karen O’Connell on that day.
Deputy Burton arrived at the Criminal Courts of Justice at 9.30am. The ‘Jobstown Seven’ arrived an hour later. Dressed in a black trouser suit with a white blouse, the Dublin West TD had to make her way through a packed courtroom to take her seat in the witness box.
VIDEO #Jobstown7 arriving at court. Joan Burton due in witness box this morning. They're accused of falsely imprisoning the former Tánaiste pic.twitter.com/LDd2z2g3nz
— Frank Greaney (@FrankGreaney) April 27, 2017
She began by telling Sean Gillane SC that she had been invited to attend a graduation ceremony at An Cosán community centre in Jobstown. As they were walking from the centre to a nearby church where she was due to address the graduates, she said she was hit in the back of the neck by some sort of ball. She said she was hit again by a water bomb and both the bottom of her hair and her jacket were soaked. She said she was shocked but carried on and delivered her speech. She said she was later advised that it would be best to leave early and they decided to do that through a side exit.
As soon as they got outside, she said Gardaí told her and her adviser Ms. O’Connell to run to an unmarked Garda car. She said the car was quickly surrounded by protestors and could not move. She described one woman outside as “beside herself with rage” and said she kept banging on the car. She said Ms. O’Connell became upset and began to cry so the two women put their arms around each other in the back of car. She described the banging on the car as “very disturbing and extremely intense”. She said a woman was wishing all kinds of illnesses and death on her and she said she saw one of the accused, Deputy Paul Murphy, on a megaphone outside. She said he looked pretty happy with himself and was smiling very broadly.
About an hour later, she said they were instructed to move to a nearby Garda jeep. She said Gardaí formed two lines along the route to keep the crowd back and an Inspector stood in front of her and walked backwards while repeatedly telling her to just look at him. She said she was terrified she was going to fall and described the crowd as “very wild” at this point. She said she was terrified of the way they were surging forwards and wondered where they would run to if they got to them.
She said the same thing happened when they got into the Garda jeep and they were unable to move for another two hours. When they eventually did, she said the jeep was moving very slowly through the crowd. She said they were advised they were going to be moved to two separate Garda vehicles. She said they were instructed they had to move as soon as the doors of the jeep were opened. She said she felt like she was running for her life as she could feel the crowd running after them. She said she didn't know where she got the energy from because she was very stiff and cold from sitting in the cars for so long. She said the cars managed to speed off and she said she was taken to Garda HQ at the Phoenix Park where she used their toilet facilities and had a cup of tea. She told the jury she tried to keep her composure throughout the ordeal in an effort to keep everybody calm.
The accused are Paul Murphy TD (34) from Kingswood Heights in Tallaght; Solidarity Councillor Michael Murphy (53) from Whitechurch Way in Ballyboden in Dublin; his fellow Solidarity Councillor on South Dublin County Council Kieran Mahon (39) from Bolbrook Grove in Tallaght; Masterson (34) from Carrigmore Drive in Tallaght; Frank Donaghy (71) from Alpine Rise in Tallaght; Michael Banks (46) from Brookview Green in Tallaght and Ken Purcell (50) from Kiltalown Green in Tallaght.
