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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
8 July-August 2024
A crowd, some of whom were wearing
balaclavas and scarves and carrying pickaxe
handles, baseball bats and other weapons,
arrived on the back of a lorry at the farm
McGnn fmily home nd frmyrd: scene of violence
M
any legal and other eyes will
be focused on the
proceedings at the Court of
Criminal Appeal next month
when it considers the appeal
by Donegal man, P J Sweeney, against his
conviction for false imprisonment and
assault, violent disorder, burglary and
criminal damage — to the door of a house
— during an anti-eviction protest in
Strokestown, County Roscommon in
December 2018.
Sweeney (59) and his co-accused Martin
O’Toole (60) and Paul Beirne (58) were
handed down what many considered
draconian sentences of 15 years by Circuit
Court judge, Martina Baxter, in July 2023
after a trial that lasted over three months.
A fourth man, David Lawlor (44), of
Navan, County Meath, was found not guilty
by the trial jury of similar charges after his
lawyers successfully undermined the
credibility of key State witnesses, including
a security contractor and members of the
Garda.
The court heard that the protest, involving
between 30 and 50 people, took place just
days after Anthony McGann, his brother
Danny and sister Geraldine were evicted
from their home, on foot of a repossession
order obtained by KBC Bank, on 11
December, 2018.
The bank employed Trinity Asset
Management Services Ltd to enforce the
repossession order and it hired GS
Agencies, a security firm registered in
Northern Ireland, to remove the family as
well as cattle and other animals from the
30-acre farm.
Ian Gordon, the principal of GS Agencies,
told the court that at around 5.00 a.m. on
Sunday, 16 December, a crowd, some of
whom were wearing balaclavas and scarves
and carrying pickaxe handles, baseball
bats and other weapons, arrived on the
back of a lorry at the farm.
Gordon claimed that he was physically
attacked and a Belgian Shepherd Dog, a
former PSNI guard dog which he had on a
lead, was struck on the head and later put
down as a result of its injuries.
Gordon also claimed that he recognised
the voice of a man, who attacked him and
Strokestown
Court of Criminl Appel considers ppel by P J Sweeney in
evicion melée cse on grounds judge llowed evidence of his
finnces, erred in dmiing evidence from body cmer nd
dmied evidence of Deecive Jennings
By Frnk Connolly
threatened to shoot him with a gun held
against his head, as that of David Lawlor.
He said that he heard one of the crowd
address his assailant as “Davey” and that
he knew Lawlor through his work over the
years as a security contractor. He said that
they had met at events including a U2
concert at Croke Park in 2017, and in Marlay
Park in Dublin and Electric Picnic in county
Laois in 2018. He claimed that Lawlor had
described him as a ‘fat bastard’ and a ‘Brit’,
on occasion.
During the trial, garda witnesses claimed
that CCTV cameras captured Lawlor in his
Mercedes ML jeep in convoy with the truck
and other vehicles as they travelled to the
farm in Falsk, near Strokestown, on the
morning of the attack on Gordon and his
security team. The prosecution claimed that
cable ties found in a property owned by
Lawlor matched those used by the attackers
during the assault.
However, in a serious blow to the
credibility of the expert Garda witness,
NEWS
July-August 2024 9
David Lwlor, who ws found innocen; wih Mrin O’Toole, Pul Beirne nd Prick
Sweeney whose cse will shorly be in he Cour of Appel fer hey were conviced of
involvemen in n lleged violen inciden in Flsk, Srokesown, Co Roscommon, in
December 2018. Phoo: Collins
In a serious blow to
the credibility of expert
witness, Lawlor proved
that the car filmed on
CCTV could not have
been his vehicle as
the brake lights were
different from his
Lawlor proved that the car filmed on CCTV
could not have been his vehicle as the brake
lights on the jeep were significantly
dierent to those on the Mercedes model
which he owned. His legal team, led by
Seamus Clarke SC, also showed that in
thousands of phone and other messages he
had received over the years, he was never
once referred to as ‘Davey’. They also
established that the cable ties were not the
same as those which he used for his
business.
Lawlor’s legal team accepted that he had
previously encountered Gordon at various
entertainment events across the State
through his work with Celtic Security, a
company which was formed by his father
and which he ran. The court heard of an
incident in Balbriggan, some years before
the Strokestown protest when Lawlor was
requested by gardaí to assist with issues
arising from another attempted eviction in
which Gordon was involved.
Aidan Devlin, the principal of Trinity Asset
Management, told the court that he hired
Gordon, a former member of the British
army in the North, to carry out the
Strokestown repossession as he was the
only contractor available to do such work.
He confirmed that GS Agencies did not have
a licence to carry out such work in the
Republic and neither did members of
Gordon’s employees. GS Agencies were
successfully prosecuted by the Private
Security Authority for operating without a
licence.
P J Sweeney from Ramelton in Donegal
was convicted after the trial heard evidence
that he was present in the home of Anthony
McGann in the early hours of 16 December,
2018, and threatened one of the GS
Agencies team with a chain saw and a
pickaxe handle.
The prosecution alleged that the accused
was recognisable from images captured by
a body camera worn by Mark Rissen, a
member of the security team, an assertion
denied by Sweeney. A building contractor,
Sweeney also denied that materials taken
from his home and business, including a
pickaxe handle and chain saw, were not the
same as the items alleged to have been
used in the assault.
Detective Garda Enda Jennings gave
evidence that he identified Sweeney from
an image circulated by investigating ocers
in a bulletin which he saw in Letterkenny
Garda station in early 2019. Jennings said
that he knew Sweeney from Ramelton,
where he also lives and that he saw him at
games when their sons played Gaelic
football and soccer together. Sweeney
denied ever seeing Garda Jennings at any
such events.
Sweeney also rejected mobile phone
evidence which claimed that he was sent
details of the location where the protestors
were to assemble before they travelled to
the McGann farm. He claims that he had
purchased the mobile phone after the
event and could not have received such
details on it.
Sweeney was convicted on fifteen
charges and along with Paul Beirne and
Martin O’Toole was given a fifteen-year
sentence by Judge Baxter. Beirne admitted
to driving his truck to the McGann farm on
the night of the protest while O’Toole
defended his actions on the grounds that
the legal order for repossession of the
property was flawed. They were acquitted
of setting fire to a car and stealing a watch,
both of which were the property of
employees of GS Agencies. The case was
prosecuted on the legal principle of
‘common design’ which holds that if two or
more people engage in a plan to commit a
crime, each is criminally liable for anything
done by the others.
In her summation, Judge Baxter
recognised that Sweeney was a father of
five children, one of whom was still in
school and that his long term partner was
suering from a health condition. He was
also a father figure to the family of his
deceased brother, she noted. The judge
said she understood that he had rejected
the verdict of the jury, which accepted the
body camera video evidence showing him
wielding a chainsaw and a pickaxe handle
in the McGann home on the morning of the
anti-eviction protest. She accepted that
Sweeney was held in high esteem and did
not commit the oences for personal gain.
However, due to the intent of the assailants
to cause havoc and assault on the
undefended security guards, she imposed
the severe sentence of 15 years in jail.
The legal team for P J Sweeney has
challenged his conviction on a number of
grounds, including that the judge erred in
admitting evidence from the body camera
worn by Mark Rissen: in admitting the
evidence of Detective Garda Jennings; in
allowing evidence concerning Sweeney’s
financial situation and bankruptcy to go to
the jury; as well on several other points of
law. His legal team is also challenging the
severity of the sentence imposed by Judge
Baxter.
