Judge secures injunction stopping group picketing home

A district judge and his wife have secured temporary injunctions preventing two members of a group calling itself the “Anti Corruption Taskforce” placing a picket on their home or the woman’s business.

District judge James Faughnan and his wife Mary McMahon sought the orders after the group posted on Facebook it was organising a protest outside the business premises of Ms McMahon, an optician, on Saturday October 22nd over what one of the group’s members said was a recent decision of Mr Faughnan to jail a man for a public order offence.

The injunctions were granted against Joe Doocey, Knocksbarrett, Ballina, Co Mayo, and Colm Granahan, Castlereagh, Killala, Co Mayo, and restrain both men, and any others with knowledge of the order, from interfering with the couple, their children or employees.

Mr Faughnan was appointed to the bench in 2013, having practised as a solicitor in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, and was designated to the Roscommon/East Galway District Court area last July.

In an affidavit, he said, while sitting in Tuam District Court on September 13th, one of the sentencing matters caused certain parties in court to become somewhat irritated. On leaving the courthouse, he noticed a gathering of people videoing his car registration but paid no heed.

Subsequently, gardaí advised him of a Youtube video "Rogue judge sends innocent man to jail" in which Mr Doocey referred to the public order case in which a man was jailed for three months and alleged all district judges were Nazis.

Mr Doocey had said “remember what happened to Hitler” and that the Anti Corruption Taskforce would be “outside Jimmy Faughnan’s house or his wife’s business, whatever it takes to bring these people down . . .”.

Mr Doocey also claims in the video he has been harassed by gardaí over seven years and refers to ”a war crime committed by a judge who is supposed to protect the people”.

‘Peaceful assembly’

A statement published by Mr Doocey on the internet for another group, “Integrity Ireland”, again warns the judge, referring to him as “Jimmy boy”, the group will be outside his home, his wife’s business and their children’s school for “peaceful assembly and dissemination of factual information on your corrupt practices”.

The couple have four children, all under 10.

In the Facebook posting, people are invited to join the October 22nd protest outside Ms McMahon’s business in Carrick-on-Shannon. It says the protest would also visit the family home and, if time allowed, also go to the home of another district judge, Kevin Kilrane.

The group also posted a video of another protest it held outside the home of another district judge, Seamus Hughes, at which Mr Doocey is seen with a loudspeaker saying ”it’s time we took the law into our own hands.”

Mr Faughnan said he believed the statements were incendiary and not made for any lawful purpose but to intimidate and frighten himself, his wife, their children and his wife’s employees. The statements also increased his apprehension of injury to himself, his family and his wife’s employees and customers as well as to his reputation as a member of the judiciary.

In an affidavit, Ms McMahon says she was gravely distressed and worried about how such actions may impact on the general wellbeing of her children, employees, customers and how they may affect her personally and her business reputation.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan in the High Court granted Conor Bowman SC, for the couple, the injunctions and returned the matter to next week. Further reliefs requiring the internet material be taken down with no further publication will be dealt with later.