Mother and daughter Martina and Ammi Burke have been arrested by gardaí as they attempted to visit Enoch Burke at Castlerea Prison, Co Roscommon.
The pair have been detained, and were due to be committed to prison for a two-week sentence, almost a month after warrants for their arrest and committal were issued by the High Court.
Gardaí had been trying to find the two women by gathering intelligence and also watching people they may try to meet or visiting locations they are linked to, including their family home just outside Castlebar, Co Mayo.
However, neither woman was located until Tuesday afternoon when they were detained at Castlerea Prison. It is understood Enoch Burke was due a visit by another person at the time, but his mother and sister turned up, resulting in their arrests.
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Gardaí were alerted to their presence at the jail and arrested them as they exited the prison campus.
In the High Court on March 4th, Judge Brian Cregan found Martina and Ammi Burke guilty of contempt “in the face of the court” over their behaviour – “roaring and shouting” and “intense and venomous” interruptions – that led to a February 20th hearing being suspended.
The judge ordered the Garda to arrest the women for committal to prison to serve a two-week sentence he imposed as a sanction for their contempt.
He said that during the February 20th hearing he had taken the “only sensible” course of action in striking out a challenge by Martina’s son and Ammi’s brother, Enoch Burke, in relation to the membership of a panel due to hear his appeal over his dismissal from Wilson’s Hospital School.
Two days after the warrant was issued in the High Court, a Garda team went to the Burke family home but could not find the women. Their interactions with other members of the Burke family were recorded and the footage shared on Enoch Burke’s social media account.
Nine days after Cregan’s order, on March 13th, Martina Burke and some family members attended the opening of the Free Presbyterian Church’s new Whitefield Bible College in Tandragee, Co Armagh.
The Burkes were removed from that gathering by members of the PSNI after they interrupted proceedings.
