Pitstop Ploughshares
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The Pitstop Ploughshares are a group of five pacifist Catholic Worker members who made their way into Shannon Airport and disarmed a US Navy war plane in the early hours of 3 February 2003. Their actions were inspired by the vision of Isaiah 2:4 to "beat swords into ploughshares". [1]
The Pit Stop Ploughshares - Deirdre Clancy; Nuin Dunlop; Karen Fallon; Ciaron O'Reilly & Damien Moran - spent between four and eleven weeks in Limerick Prison. They went to trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in March and October 2005 on two counts of Criminal Damage, €100 and US$2.5 million. Penalties, if convicted, would have carried a maximum of ten years imprisonment. [2]
The March '05 trial collapsed on the 6th day when Judge O'Donnell called a mistrial and dismissed the jury. Media were instructed not to report on the reasons for the mistrial.[3]
The October '05 re-trial collapsed on the 10th day, after Judge Donagh MacDonagh agreed with Defence counsel that his attendance at the inauguration in 2001 of George W Bush (along with other meetings he had with the President) was grounds for his removal from the case, in that his role was tainted with a "perception of bias".[4]
The 3rd trial of the Pitstop Ploughshares trial started on July 10th 2006 and resulted in an unanimous "not guilty" verdict on both charges after 12 days of testimony and legal argument. Judge Miriam Anderson had agreed on Day 9 of proceedings with Defence Counsel after extensive submissions and legal argument on the applicability of the statutory 'lawful excuse' defence.
After 4½ hours of deliberation, the Dublin jury of seven women and five men returned and gave their decision that all the accused should be acquitted as they honestly believed they were acting to save lives and property in Iraq and Ireland, and that they believed their disarmament action was reasonable taking into consideration all the circumstances.[5]
Over 100 international & numerous Irish anti-war activists converged in Dublin for both trials. A number of public meetings took place as a result concerning the ongoing passage of troops through Shannon Airport.
[edit] References
- ^ Press Statement, Catholic Worker, 11 Feb 2003
- ^ Five go on trial on US plane damage charges, RTÉ News, 08 March 2005
- ^ Trial of anti-war protestors collapses, RTÉ News, 14 March 2005
- ^ Jury discharged in anti-war case, RTÉ News, 7 November 2005
- ^ Five not guilty of damaging US plane, RTÉ News, 25 July 2006
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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