Father cleared on all counts
Mary Cody
AN eight day trial involving a father and son concluded at Kilkenny Circuit Court this Friday.
After more than four hours of deliberations the jury returned with a not guilty verdict in relation to Joe Kirwan, 25 Edmund Rice Estate, Callan. The jury acquitted Mr Joe Kirwan of trespass, criminal damage, assault and threatening to kill at 18 Edmund Rice Estate on June 15, 2008.
Trevor Kirwan, 25 Clonkill, Callan was convicted of criminal damage to a van belonging to Mr Declan Burke. He was acquitted of counts of trespass with a weapon and threatening to kill and the jury failed to reach a verdict on charges of assault and criminal damage relating to the front windows of a house and damage to a BMW.
Judge Olive Buttimer adjourned sentencing in the case to the next sittings of Kilkenny Circuit Court in April and ordered that a probation report be prepared for that date. Mr Patrick Treacy BL, acting for the State told the judge that he would seek direction from the DPP on whether there would be a retrial on the counts on which the jury failed to reach a verdict.
The trial, which ran over two weeks heard of a number of allegations involving the two defendants and their neighbour Declan Burke and his girlfriend, Agnieszka Meleskska.
The evidence given
Trevor Kirwan who was convicted of criminal damage told Kilkenny Circuit Court that he 'reached breaking point' on the date in question but denied taking the law into their own hands and acting in a vigilante fashion. He told the judge and jury that on the date of the alleged incidents he had drunk three glasses of wine while watching a hurling match. "I walked down to my father's and when I went up to the estate I saw Agnes (Agnieszka Meleskska) at the front door shouting.
"I met my father and asked what was going on and my father told me that a lad (Richard Quirke) had threatened to kill us both and to burn our house down. The abuse had been going on for years and he (Declan Burke) was threatening us continuously. I don't think that people should have to put up with it. I went over to the door and hit it with my fist and Agnes opened the door. I saw her reach across and pull something and I grabbed the bar off her. I was shouting at Declan Burke to come out. I realised a few minutes later when he pulled up in a van that he wasn't there. The breaking of the windows was over in 15 seconds. I was bleeding a lot at this stage. My father is on the footpath screaming at me to get out of it," he said.
"Declan Burke ran around the front of the van and Billy (Burke) hopped out and had something behind his back. Then Deccie got me in a headlock He kicked me a few times in the head and we exchanged obscenities. He (Declan Burke) went back into the house. I told him to come back out but he didn't. I left and hit the van windows and I saw my father who had blood pouring out of him, running down his face.
"Neither me or my father laid a hand on her Agnieszka Meleskska or on any other woman for that matter," he added.
Mr Patrick Treacy BL why he hadn't report the alleged threats to gardai. "Everyone knows you couldn't catch him (Declan Burke) selling drugs. Something had to be done. It was an absolute disgrace," he added. Mr Treacy BL, acting for the State asked Trevor Kirwan if he thought Agnieszka Meleskska was in someway responsible for the incident on the night in question.
"Maybe she has a small bit of the blame. If she is living with someone who snorts 100 euro worth of cocaine on a night out," replied Mr Kirwan.
"That attitude is one of a vigilante, someone who thinks that they can take the law into their own hands," remarked Mr Treacy.
Mr Treacy also asked Trevor Kirwan if it was Richard Quirke who had made the threats then why hadn't he gone to the home of Mr Quirke instead. "This has been goin on for three or four years. Everyone has a breaking point," Mr Kirwan told the court.
"I had a lawful excuse to smash up the windows. I honestly thought that one night I might get a phone call to say that my father had been burned to death in his house or that I would be stabbed," added Mr Kirwan.
"That is consistent with the mindset of a vigilante," Mr Treacy BL told the court.
Allegations made by neighbour
Joe Kirwan, who was cleared of all charges made a number of allegations against his neighbour Declan Burke during his direct evidence.He told the court that he was 'trying to keep drugs out of his estate' but denied that the case was based on 'vigilantism'.
"We had drugs in the estate before and we got the family out. He (Declan Burke) is different; he is into drugs in a big way. He abused me anytime I passed. Six months ago they (Declan Burke) had a party and at 9am the following morning the whole front window and the sliding doors of my house were covered with human excrement. I had to go out and wash it off," he told the court.
Mr Patrick Treacy BL said to Joe Kirwan that this allegation had not been put to Mr Burke when he had previously given evidence in the case. "I presume it was Declan Burke or someone that was at the party that did it," Joe Kirwan replied.
Mr Kirwan snr told the court that he had been subjected to abuse from Declan Burke over a five-year period. He also made a number of allegations against Mr Burke. "One Sunday morning Declan Burke came to my house at noon. He was full of drink and drugs and tried to kick in the door. One of the neighbours called the gardai," he added. Mr Kirwan snr said that relations between him and Declan Burke had 'soured' because 'Declan Burke tried to sell his son, Kenneth drugs'.
The 57-year-old also told the court that a relative of his had reported Declan Burke to the gardai and following the complaint his dogs were poisoned.
The State’s case
The first witness to give evidence in the case was Declan Burke's girlfriend Agnieszka Melesksha who claimed that she had been assaulted and threatened with an iron bar at her home in Callan by Joe and Trevor Kirwan.
She told the court that the two men smashed their neighbour’s car windows before breaking the sitting room window and “bursting” through the front door of the house.
Ms Meleskska (27), originally from Poland, told the court she was in the house on her own when the two men burst in and that they held her by the throat, called her a “bitch” and told her to go back to her “own country”.
She said she was terrified and feared for her life and that the men “shouted at me they were going to kill me and Declan” and also screamed at her “where is Declan?”.
The court heard Ms Meleskska managed to get out of the house and that Mr Burke drove into the estate but had to drive away and that Joseph Kirwan smashed the window of his van with a rock. Ms Meleskska said the two men broke in and assaulted her moments after Declan had left to visit a friend. It was also claimed Joseph Kirwan smashed the car windows of another man who left the house before Mr Burke.
.Ms Meleskska said she knew Mr Burke had previous problems with drugs but that “he was not dealing drugs” and that they had moved on together from his previous problems.
Ms Meleskska gave evidence that after the alleged assault she moved out of Callan and into Kilkenny city for 12 months.
"I left Callan after the incident, I didn't want to come back at all. Declan decided to move in with me in Kilkenny but he couldn't afford to live in town and he still had the house in Callan so he moved back. I didn't join him straight away and only came back to Callan in June or July of last year," she told the court.
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