Five men who took a case to the Supreme Court on the right of gardai to enter a private dwelling were convicted yesterday of charges connected with the incident which gave rise to the landmark case.
Brothers Alan (21) and Anthony (25) Lawless, Weaver Street, Dublin; David Crowley (23), Bride Street; Michael Delaney (25), Rathmines Road Upper, and Wayne Kelly (27), of no fixed address, were all found guilty of possessing what a judge described as an array of "lethal" weapons that included a hatchet, a pick handle, a lump hammer and a wood chisel. They denied the charges.
The men were arrested after barricading themselves in a flat in Chambers Court in Dublin's Liberties in the early hours of June 6th, 1993, when an anti-drugs march arrived outside. A mob of about 100 converged on the flat, which was occupied by Wayne Kelly, his mother Catherine and her three other children, aged four to 12. The crowd, some armed with sticks, threatened to petrol-bomb the flat.
Kelly and his four friends were there at the time and claimed Mrs Kelly asked them to protect her. They claimed the mob tried to break down the front door with an axe and smashed a window before lighting petrol-soaked rags and throwing them into the flat. They said petrol was poured around the window frame and part of a refuse chute was used to try to stop anyone from getting out. The five barricaded the front door with bed frames and anything else they could find and extinguished the burning rags as they came through the window. Mrs Kelly and the three younger children stayed in a bedroom.
Sgt Nicholas McGrath saw the defendants armed with weapons. They were asked to leave under Garda escort but refused and told the gardai to "piss off". The sergeant spoke to two women on the balcony of the flats complex who told him there were young children inside.
Gardai broke down the door and arrested all five and seized the weapons, which were shown in court yesterday.
The case was part heard in January 1994 when, following a defence request, Judge Gillian Hussey sent the case to the High Court to decide whether the gardai had the right to enter the flat without a warrant. The Garda argued they had the right to do so for the safety of the children and in the interests of all in the flat.
The High Court found with the Garda, and on appeal in February 1996, the Supreme Court also found there was no breach of the constitutional inviolability of private dwellings.
In Dublin District Court yesterday, four of the five defendants gave evidence that they were asked to get the children out but were not prepared to do so until the gardai got the mob away from the landing. They claimed they were handcuffed and beaten by gardai.
Judge Hussey heard all had previous convictions. Crowley and Alan Lawless were currently serving sentences for possessing offensive weapons. She sentenced both to 10 months, to be served after their current sentences.
She imposed seven months imprisonment on Kelly, who did not turn up yesterday. She was told he was unlawfully at large from prison on a seven-year sentence for possession of a firearm. She gave Anthony Lawless and Delaney suspended sentences of five and seven months respectively.