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Jailed father defiant over court order
BY ELAINE SHERIDAN
AN IRISH father this week remained defiant after being jailed for four
days for claiming his son had been banished to Britain.
Martin O’Neill from Portarlington in Co. Laois was put behind bars
by Judge Mary Martin for contempt of court.
She handed down the sentence after he refused to retract a statement he
previously made and publicly apologise in the media.
When he failed to obey her order Judge Martin remanded him in custody
for four days to purge his contempt of court.
The row erupted after the father claimed the court had ordered his son
Jerome out of Ireland. But despite his spell in a cell Mr O’Neill
this week remained defiant.
He told The Irish Post: “I have a document in my hand from the
court to say that my son should go to live with his uncle in England.”
“I didn’t apologise to Judge Martin for my earlier comments
but I did apologise for calling her some derogatory names in court.”
“I was told if I didn’t I would get another seven days in
prison for contempt and it would go on and on like that for ever.”
Jerome is currently on bail and is not due to appear again before the
judge until December.
The 18-year-old appeared in front of the judge in Athy District Court
charged with being in possession of an item with intent to cause injury
during a row in Portarlington on December 23 last year.
He had already served a week’s detention in St. Patrick’s
Institution in Laois when he appeared before Judge Martin.
His father said: “As far as I believed the only way he would be
released out of prison was a ticket to England. That was my understanding
of the ruling”.
“He’s now over in Croydon with his uncle but he desperately
wants to return home.” |
