A Shell to Sea activist has been given a five month prison sentence after he was found guilty of assaulting a garda, a sergeant, and an inspector at Belmullet Courthouse last year.
Imposing sentence, Judge Haughton said Niall Harnett did not have the slightest remorse and that his type of behaviour would lead to “a breakdown of law and order in ordinary, regulated society”.
Harnett from Barr na Coille, Pollathomas, Erris, pleaded not guilty to the offences which occurred just before lunchtime on March 11 last year.
As he left the courtroom, the defendant saw a man being questioned by Sgt Dermot Butler and wanted to act as a witness for him but the officer said Harnett was interfering in something that had nothing to do with him.
The sergeant said he took hold of Harnett’s left arm to usher him out, but Harnett became aggressive.
Sgt Butler denied that he had manhandled Harnett.
During the melée, the activist was alleged to have put his head down and run at Inspector Joe Doherty, almost as if he was making a rugby tackle.
The court heard the inspector groaned on impact and was propelled forward.
When Harnett was removed, the court heard he then similarly barged into Sgt Butler and Garda Hugh Egan who were blocking the door of the courtroom.
Harnett disputed the Garda version of events, saying that Sgt Butler had pushed him aggressively saying “get away you”.
If he struck Inspector Doherty, the move had been out of his control because he was being flung “hither and thither” by officers, he told the court.
When he was alleged to have assaulted the two officers blocking the door, he had been trying to squeeze between them, he said. He felt “duty bound” to assist the man being questioned by gardaí inside.
He was later removed by ambulance to hospital.
Judge Gerard Haughton convicted Harnett of all three assaults, saying there was consistent evidence that he had attacked all three men in the same way, with a rugby-style tackle.
Harnett said he felt that he had been assaulted by gardaí and had tried to take a prosecution himself. He said that when he went to speak to gardaí afterwards to make peace he realised he was “probably naïve in thinking I could get concessions from the gardaí”.
He said his experience was that the three named officers engaged in “consistent use of force” and that if they did not acknowledge that, he was not prepared to apologise for standing up to them.
Judge Haughton said Harnett believed he was “entitled to do whatever he believes is right, regardless of the law.”
The sentence is being appealed.
