‘You have mocked God’: Enoch Burke tells judge after jailing of his mother and sister

Judge notes we live in a democracy, not a ‘theocracy governed by the Burke family’ The High Court it may have been but, as usual, it was not quite high enough for Enoch Burke. “You have mocked God,” he told Justice Brian Cregan by video-link from prison on Wednesday, after the judge had ruled against him and other members of the family on a series of issues, in the process jailing Burke’s mother and sister for contempt. “But there is a higher judge,” the prisoner continued, warning that Cregan would be called to “give an account” before that bench in due course. Hinting at the likely verdict, Burke added: “You are not a good man.”“Don’t threaten me, Mr Burke,” replied the judge, physically present in Court No 2, who also corrected the record on the Almighty: “I have not mocked God at all.” READ MORETime to halt Burke ‘family circus’: Judge sentences Enoch Burke’s mother and sister to prison for two weeksVatican top diplomat calls US-Israel attacks on Iran ‘truly alarming’Six Nations debuts galore for Ireland as Andy Farrell shakes up pack for WalesSon of JP McManus files new appeal to quash coroner’s cocaine verdict on wife’s deathWhat he had said earlier, when ordering that Martina Burke and her daughter Ammi (neither of whom was present) to be jailed for two weeks over their part in the “uproar” at a hearing last month, was this:“Mrs Burke and Ms Burke – just like their brother Enoch – are not exceptional. They are just exceptionally unable to accept what every other citizen in this Republic accepts every day ... We live in a democracy governed by the rule of law and not a theocracy governed by the Burke family.”Compared with the “shouting and roaring” (as the judge called it) at the last hearing, the ruling was delivered in relative calm. Speaking of relatives, Enoch’s bother Isaac was the only Burke in court and limited himself to interjecting, firmly but politely, on a few occasions.In contrast with Isaac’s formal suit and tie, Enoch wore a buttoned-up but casual pink shirt, open just enough at the collar to reveal a pale blue inner lining. Even when not speaking, meanwhile, he was eloquent in his disapproval of proceedings, pursing his lips constantly and on several occasions shaking his head.Another of the issues on which Cregan had to rule related to Burke’s claim of perjury by a member of the disciplinary panel investigating his dismissal from Wilson’s Hospital School. To this, the judge recited a litany of other examples in which Burke had alleged people were telling lies. [ Time to halt Burke ‘family circus’: Judge sentences Enoch Burke’s mother and sister to prison for two weeksOpens in new window ]“Mr Burke accuses everyone of lying,” he said, including all the judges in the case. After five months of dealing with him, however, Cregan had formed the view that “he himself is entirely mendacious about the reasons why he is in prison”.He was not there “because of his beliefs on transgenderism ... he is in prison because he has breached a court order not to trespass on the school’s grounds”. The judge added: “He is not entitled to his own truth.”Questions of “mootness” – what is and is not a matter for discussion in a legal case – arose in several parts of the judge’s ruling. But as well as moot ones, there several mute points too.First, when the judgment was interrupted by conversation and laughter from some of those following the case remotely, non-participants had to be asked to switch off their microphones. Later, when Burke was given the opportunity to speak on legal matters but chose instead to berate the judge, he was forcibly silenced on several occasions.Even this was done with something like decorum. “I’m ordering that Mr Burke be muted,” the judge would tell the registrar, who would reply: “I’m muting him now” and then add: “Mr Burke, you’ve been muted.”[ Enoch Burke’s mother says her ‘godly’ and ‘righteous’ son should never have been jailedOpens in new window ]Burke is named for an Old Testament prophet so favoured by God that he was “taken to Heaven” while still alive. But questions of where the earthbound Enoch was to be taken after the last hearing dominated Wednesday’s later exchanges. It was supposed to be Mountjoy. Since when, if not to Hell, Burke had been transferred to Hell’s Cromwellian surrogate, Connaught: Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon, to be exact. Or, as the Mayo-born Burke put it, more vaguely and with apparent distaste: “somewhere down the country”.This was not in accordance with the court’s directive, he argued when unmuted again after warning that the case would be referred to divine authority eventually. Burke did not specify a date for that hearing. Cregan, by contrast, adjourned proceedings until next Tuesday, when the governor of Mountjoy will be asked to attend.