Burke’s mother accuses newspaper of ‘making up lies’

Enoch Burke’s mother Martina has told the High Court she is not directing him to remain in Mountjoy prison.

Mrs Burke was giving evidence in her son’s defamation action over an article that said he had to be moved to another prison cell because he was annoying other inmates by repeatedly expressing his religious beliefs.

The action is against Mediahuis Ireland, publishers of the Sunday Independent, over an article on 9 October 2022 during his first period in jail for contempt of court.

The publisher denies defamation and will plead fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest.

During cross examination Martina Burke was repeatedly asked if her son had breached a court order to which she replied several times that the courts had a duty to uphold the constitutional right to religious belief.

Senior Counsel Ronan Lupton asked if she had ever said to her son that he should purge his contempt.

She replied that she did not believe he was in contempt.

Mr Lupton asked “are you directing him to remain in Mountjoy?” She replied “I’m not directing anyone”.

Asked if she was deeply distressed and humiliated when he went to prison as she said she had been by the article she replied “no”.

She said she was not humiliated by someone standing up for his religious belief.

Mrs Burke also accused the newspaper of “making up lies about a young man starting off in life” and said her son “could be in the grave” if he did not have the support behind him.

She said with high rates of suicide and stress and tension “we had to go to court to get them to take down lies”.

In her direct evidence she said she was horrified to read the article as she had been speaking to her son regularly and there was never any mention of any differences with other inmates.

She immediately called the Irish Prison Service press office and it was later confirmed to her that the information in the article was incorrect.

She said she had to threaten court action against the Sunday Independent before the article was taken down a number of days later.

Asked by Enoch Burke what her reaction to the article was she said she was absolutely distressed and horrified and was shocked and embarrassed.

She said she knew it was not true and it was lies.

Mrs Burke said the article portrayed her son as someone who annoys people so much to the point they would beat him severely.

She said her “world stopped” that morning as she was supposed to be driving her other son to Galway and instead had to spend the morning making phone calls “begging the Irish Independent to take it down”.

Sunday Independent Editor Alan English has begun his evidence for the defence and will continue this afternoon.