Mother taken into custody over taking photograph of Cork court proceedings on phone

TAKING a photograph of court proceedings in Courtroom 1 of the courthouse at Anglesea Street in Cork resulted in a mother-of-four being taken into custody.

Registrar Dáire Coughlan said during yesterday’s sitting of Judge Joanne Carroll’s court that the woman had taken a photograph and that he had seen the flash from her phone.

As soon as the judge was alerted to the incident, gardaí confiscated the woman’s phone and handed it to the registrar.

Mr Coughlan said there was no sign of a photograph of the courtroom on the confiscated phone.

The woman insisted that she only picked up her phone because someone was calling her — while the phone was on silent.

Judge Carroll said to the woman: “You are this close to being taken into custody. If that photo was on the phone, that is where you would be going. I say, ‘if you had’.”

Lisa Keenan, of no fixed address in Cork and now living in Mahon, said: “I haven’t taken a photo.”

However, minutes later, Mr Coughlan, registrar, said that he located a photograph of the courtroom in the ‘Recycle Bin’ folder of the phone.

“She was trying to delete it,” the registrar said.

Ms Keenan then said it was possible to hit a button at the side of the phone which would cause a picture to be taken.

The judge directed that the woman be taken into custody in the cells at the courthouse.

“I have four children,” she said. The judge replied: “It doesn’t matter if you have 12. I am remanding you in custody until your case is called.”

Two hours later, Judge Carroll called for the defendant to be brought to court. She was given the opportunity to purge her contempt of court in relation to the taking of a photograph.

Shane Collins-Daly said the 36-year-old apologised. He said he had known the defendant a long time and it was the first time he had seen her in tears. Ms Keenan said: “Sorry Judge.”

Judge Carroll asked: “Why did you take a photo in the courtroom of people doing their work?”

She replied: “I don’t know, it just happened.”

The judge said: “Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The reason she was present in court was that a previously suspended nine-month sentence for shoplifting was triggered by a conviction under the Road Traffic Act. However, that nine-month sentence was not activated.