Jay Lester, this morning
An 18-year-old man, who was found to have falsely imprisoned former tánaiste Joan Burton and her adviser in Jobstown in Tallaght three years ago, has won his appeal, after lawyers for the State said they would not be contesting the case.
A judge at the Children’s Court in 2016, ruled [Jay Lester] was entitled to make a finding of guilty in the case against the teenager, who was 15 at the time, of the protests against water charges in 2014. The judge said he would leave the young man without a criminal conviction if he was of good behaviour for nine months.
However, the man and his lawyers appealed the Children’s Court ruling to the Circuit Court.
This morning, in a brief hearing, lawyers for the State said they would not be contesting the appeal.
In fairness.
Teenager wins appeal over Jobstown ruling (RTÉ)
Rollingnews
Update:
Jay Lester and mum Sandra address the media as Paul Murphy (far left), Solidarity/People Before Profit TD, looks on.
Rollinmgnews
Fair play. Burton’s a disgrace, the whole Labour Party is. Scumbags.
political policing at it’s most disgusting
i disagree she was definetly held against her will – no matter how noble the cause that is wrong.
The scene was violent.
as for the young lad , there were much better candidates for hanging that day than a 15year old.
I don’t have an issue with his appeal winning
You should look up the definitions. There’s a difference between obstructing traffic (which is punishable under the Public Order Act) and actually imprisoning a person. If Joan was able to exit the car and get into another car, then she’s not imprisoned. It was her car that was blocked. The cops/DPP wanting to hit the campaign a hammer blow went OTT with Unlawful Imprisonment which can carry a very heavy sentence.
You clearly haven’t seen the video; no way would I get be getting out of that car if I was her. And there is our friend in the blue hoody; well, I hoped that he learned his lesson and that in future he won’t allow himself to be manipulated by cynical older people who don’t have his best interests at heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu42hhXCLUs
Hmm – well, looks like my comment was deleted.
Sam, look up the video on Youtube (“Joan Burton surrounded by protestors in Jobstown, Dublin today”), and tell me if you would feel comfortable getting out of the car if you were in Burton’s position.
Playing devils avocado here (and I am delighted that his appeal was successful):
Do you think Joan would have been safe if she walked through that (hostile) crowd on that day?
If she felt that she would not be safe outside the cars, then she was effectively imprisoned within the cars. Those people obstructing the traffic were imprisoning her.
This is a snippet of the abuse hurled at her that day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu42hhXCLUs
devils avocado indeed
So Snowey, you were there? Or are you relying on the video footage shown on RTE?
According to the courts she wasn’t held against her will, do you disagree with the Irish Judicial system?
No need to rely on RTE’s footage – people can view the footage shot by the protesters themselves and arrive at their own conclusions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu42hhXCLUs
“According to the courts she wasn’t held against her will”
– that’s not what they said; they decided that they prosecution didn’t have enough evidence to convict any of the accused for falsely imprisoning her.
Nice to see Jay walk.
:-)
Lester Picket
Another life wrecked by joan
Totally agree dav and I don’t often see eye to eye with yourself
this is truly disgraceful stuff and she should be held to account
Previously I would have been skeptical about “political policing” but after the Jobstown trial and the recent
disgusting revelations exposing the government level smear campaign vis-a-vis Dept of Justice and the AGS
against Garda McCabe and the whistleblowers it is obvious the arrests and charges in Jobstown were pure
filthy political policing and nothing else.
Yep, 100%
Blueshirts in government and in cop shops
it wasnt political policing. the protesters were thugs, pure and simple. the good news is Murphy wont get relected as he does very little in the constituency.
He’ll romp home you fool. He topped the poll in 2016 and won the by-election prior to that.
If that was your mother, would you agree to her to be held up to that level of bile?