Enoch Burke's father accused of assaulting female garda

Tom Tuite

Jailed teacher Enoch Burke's father has been accused of assaulting a female garda during an incident at the Four Courts last year.

Sean Burke, of Cloonsunna, Castlebar, Co Mayo, appeared before Judge Catherine Hayden at Dublin District Court on Wednesday.

He is accused of assaulting Garda Victoria Fisher at the Four Courts on March 7th, 2023.

The incident allegedly occurred on the day his son Enoch was involved in a legal dispute before the Court of Appeal (CoA) over transgenderism and his sacking by Wilson's Hospital School in Co Westmeath.

Sean Burke faces a charge under section two of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, categorised as a minor crime only dealt with at the District Court level.

However, a conviction can result in a fine and a six-month jail sentence.

Mr Burke, representing himself, indicated he would contest the case. However, he will be asked to plead formally at his next hearing.

Gardai had summonsed him to court so he did not have to sign a bail bond.

A summary of prosecution evidence was handed over to Mr Burke in court before the judge ordered him to return in three weeks.

A later hearing date will then be allocated if he denies the charge.

No evidence concerning the events on the date of the alleged offence was heard.

Enoch Burke, who taught history and German, has spent more than 200 days in Mountjoy Prison after the secondary school teacher defied a High Court order to stay away from his former workplace.

Last April, one of his brothers, Simeon Burke, then a barrister-at-law student in Kings Inns, was fined €300 at Dublin District Court.

He had been convicted of breach of the peace after Enoch Burke's proceedings on March 7. That offence carries a possible three-month sentence.

Simeon Burke (24) had denied the Public Order Act offence of engaging in threatening, insulting and abusive words and behaviour on or about the Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin.

Finalising the case, the presiding judge had noted he had spent 41 days in custody on remand in the run-up to his hearing after repeatedly refusing to sign a bail bond with a condition to stay away from the Four Courts.

That conviction remains under appeal.