Eoin Rice v Judge Mangan, the Banner Judge

limerick | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Wednesday February 18, 2004 18:57 by Edward Horgan - Peace and Neutrality Alliance edward_horgan at hotmail dot com Limerick 086-2380911

Hunger striker to fight his case

Eoin Rice was back in Court today at Corofin, attempted to represent himself in Court before Judge Mangan, who refused to allow him make any submission on his own behalf, refused to reconsider his bail conditions or to give any reason for the new bail condition of being banned from county Clare.

It is no longer unusual to report bizarre happenings in Co. Clare Courts. Eoin Rice who has been Limerick prison for the past week, because he refused to accept Judge Mangan's additional bail condition banning him from Co Clare. This matter is now becoming a circus but a sad and an unjust circus. Eoin was arrested and brought before Tulla court on 6 Dec 2003 arising from alleged incidents at Shannon on 6th Dec. He was then released on a bail of (5) five Euro. The Gardai have never objected to this bail nor have they sought to have it amended. This circus has been doing the rounds of Clare towns in the meantime. At Ennis court on 18Dec Eoin was again remanded on 5 Euro bail, and the same again at Shannon Court on 8 Jan. On 12 Feb, at Shannon court,
for no apparent reason, Judge Mangan decided to add banning from Co Clare to the bail conditions. Since there was no request for this or no reason given, Eoin Rice refused to accept the extra condition and was remanded to Limerick prison. Eoin has been trying to get an application for Habeas Corpus processed in the meantime but is meeting serious bureaucratic obstruction in processing this vital civil liberties right. Our legal advice is that any additional bail condition such as this should have been fully explained and justified by the Judge. At Corofin court today Eoin Rice attempted to represent himself because of the non-availability of his solicitor. Judge Mangan refused to allow Eoin to make any representation to the court. This in itself must be a serious breach of Eoin's civil liberties. When Eoin attempted to make a submission on the issue of the extra bail condition, Judge Mangan interrupted him and said the only issue was whether Eoin was prepared to accept the bail conditions imposed, and demanded a yes or no answer on several occasions. When Eoin attempted to explain that he was willing to accept the original conditions of 5 euro but was not willing to accept the banning from Co Clare especially without no explanation, Judge Mangan ignored him and continued to interrupt Eoin's attempt to make an application to the court. The Judge simply continued to talk with Inspector Gallagher, ignoring Eoin’s efforts to answer even the Judge's own question to him. It was a dialog of the deaf. Judge Mangan insisted on getting the answer the he the judge required, i.e. yes or no, and refused to allow Eoin to answer the question in any other way and also refused to allow Eoin to make any other submission whatsoever. This is neither justice nor law. Eoin is back in Limerick prison and continues with his hunger strike that is now into its seventh day. Conor Cregan and Edward Horgan later visited him in the prison. He looked pale and weak, but he is determined to fight this additional injustice being imposed on him. He is now seeking a High Court writ of Habeas Corpus.
Eoin Rice is not the only such peace activist being treated in this manner before the Irish courts. There is now an urgent and immediate need for a special Peace Defense Fund to support these defenders of peace and civil rights.
All those interested in helping with this cause of justice should contact either Tim Hourigan or Edward Horgan