Ardoyne residents 'prisoners' during riot
Residents in a north Belfast district have been "kept prisoners" for decades during Twelfth of July street violence, a High Court judge said on Friday.
Friday, 30 July 2010
Mr Justice McLaughlin hit out at rioters in Ardoyne as he refused bail to a man accused of travelling 30 miles to take part in this month's trouble.
He ruled that Paul Donegan, 26, of Dunclug Park, Ballymena, should remain in custody "until the madness stops".
The judge also disclosed how the disorder had impacted on his own family as he was growing up.
He said: "What went on at Ardoyne was an outrage.
"My mother and father were held prisoners every Twelfth of July for 40 years because of this carry on. I couldn't get to school when I was a child because of this carry on."
Donegan, charged with riotous assembly at Ardoyne, is alleged to have thrown stones and kicked out at police lines.
The High Court heard he travelled from Ballymena on the day with his heavily pregnant partner to collect a Moses basket and other items from her relatives in the area.
Jonathan Browne, defending, said Donegan went to the scene of the rioting at the shop fronts because "curiosity got the better of him".
He argued that any involvement was amateurish as photographs allegedly show the accused in a distinctive tracksuit and with a tattoo visible.
Mr Browne said: "We say he effectively became involved in this as opposed to planning to become involved."
But Mr Justice McLaughlin held that Donegan could not be released in the current circumstances.
"Anybody involved in this on a voluntary basis needs to be kept out of harms way until the madness stops," he said.
The judge said the rioters caused huge public alarm and distress, particularly to Ardoyne residents who were "being kept prisoners year after year for decades now".
"These people don't have any regard for anybody else who lives there. They only have regard for themselves."
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