HIGH COURT JUDGE Brian Cregan warned Enoch Burke not to threaten him after finding his sister Ammi and mother Martina in contempt of court this morning.

The judge and teacher engaged in a series of angry exchanges, which came when Burke was asked to make submissions about why he should not pay costs in a legal case and why he objected to being transferred to Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon.

Burke, who appeared in court via video link from Castlerea, expressed anger at the judge for ordering Martina and Ammi Burke to prison for two weeks after they interrupted a previous hearing involving the Disciplinary Appeals Panel (DAP).

The judgment also rejected an application by Burke to have a former member of the DAP, Sean Ó Longáin, referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for perjury, after he claimed that O Longáin had lied in his affidavits.

It strongly criticised Burke for accusing “everyone of lying”, including other judges, solicitors and barristers. 

“This court has been dealing with Mr Burke for the last five months and is of the view that he himself is entirely mendacious about the reasons why he is in prison,” it said.

“I am of the view that Mr Burke is not a credible witness. I would never take Mr Burke’s characterisation of an opponent’s version of events as even remotely resembling the truth of the situation.”

The judgment also criticised the wider Burke family for believing that they are above the law, and said there was a question about whether they should be exempt from the law because they are evangelical Christians.

“There is no exemption for Christian evangelicals, or climate change activists, or animal right activists, or anti-abortion protesters,” the judgment said.

“The law applies equally to all persons who seek to deliberately interrupt court proceedings and seek to disrupt them.”

Speaking later during the hearing, Burke called the judgement “fearful and nefarious” and criticised how it referenced the family’s religion.

At one point, he told Judge Cregan: “You will give an account to God.”

The judge then interrupted him, and repeatedly warned “don’t threaten me” while Burke continued his submissions.

“Move on to your application or I’ll simply mute you and hear you another day,” the judge said.

Burke then told the court that his mother and sister were “guilty of nothing but speaking the truth”, prompting Judge Cregan to ask that his microphone be muted and to tell Burke “you’re just wasting my time.”

Burke then sought to make an application to the court that the order committing him to prison had been breached because he had been transferred to Castlerea Prison.

The teacher claims he was moved from Mountjoy Prison, where he has spent more than 600 days so far, to Castlrea without notice on Sunday morning.

He has objected to the move on the basis that he was ordered to Mountjoy Prison when he was imprisoned by Judge Cregan in December.

The judge asked him whether he would like to speak on this, following an appearance by his brother Isaac Burke on the matter before him on Monday.

However, Burke again referenced the earlier judgment against his mother and sister and told Judge Cregan that he had “no confidence that you’re a man of truth or integrity”.

When asked by the judge where he was appearing from, Burke responded “you know where I am, judge”.

The judge told Burke that he had only heard about the case from his brother Isaac, and was seeking a formal submission to the court about his whereabouts.

Burke then told Judge Cregan “don’t play games”, claiming that the judge was “not a good man” and suggesting that he had been transferred to Castlerea “by sleight of hand”.

Counsel for the DAP, Páraic Lyons, then made submissions on the costs being sought by the panel from Burke over his case against it.

Burke was asked to make his own submissions on why he should not pay costs, but argued that the case should not have been thrown out and suggested the court was wrong to do so.

“That has been my experience from the beginning, the court winking at wrongdoing,” he said.

“[It's] a false balance that is an abomination to God, the god that you have mocked this morning.”

Judge Cregan replied: “I did not mock God at all, and don’t even try to pretend that I did.”