Connacht Tribune
Anti-vaxxer’s day of court drama
By Ann Healy
An anti-vaccination campaigner was convicted and fined a total of €450 last week for breaching Covid-19 regulations after he drove more than five kilometres from his address at a time when temporary travel restrictions were in place earlier this year – and also for speeding on the same occasion.
Antonio Mureddu (44), with an address at The Headford Arms, Main Street, Headford, said he would not look for €50,000 compensation from the State for being prosecuted if the charges against him were dropped.
He also refused to accept the court’s jurisdiction and threatened to personally sue the Garda who prosecuted him.
Mureddu donned a purple, floor-length velvet cloak tied at the neck over his overcoat and pulled the pink tie he was wearing to the outside of the overcoat before entering the courtroom at Galway District Court yesterday afternoon.
He was accompanied by a woman who did wear a mask.
Mureddu faced two summonses. The first was for speeding and the second was for breaching Covid-19 regulations by leaving his place of residence without reasonable excuse after his vehicle was stopped by Garda Garrett Cafferkey at Coolagh, Oranmore, Galway, on April 10 last.
Judge John Brennan asked Mr Mureddu in the morning to wait outside until his case was called at the end of the criminal list as he was not wearing a face mask.
When the matter was called in the afternoon, Mureddu indicated he was contesting the matters.
Garda Garrett Cafferkey gave evidence he was conducting a speed check at Glenascaul, Oranmore at 1.55pm on April 10 when he detected a Corsa travelling at 134kmh in a 100kmh zone.
He followed the car in his marked patrol car and stopped it at Coolagh, Oranmore.
He spoke to the accused, who was driving the car. He said Mureddu refused to show him his driving licence until he showed him his Garda ID, which he did. Mureddu then produced a full driving licence to him.
Garda Cafferkey said the Covid five-kilometre travel limit was in force at the time and he demanded to know where the driver was going and where had he had come from.
He said Mureddu refused to tell him. He said he outlined the regulations that were in place for non-essential travel to Mureddu.
“He wouldn’t tell me. I told him I would issue a speeding ticket and he said he would accept the speeding ticket.
“I also told him a fixed charge penalty notice for breaching Covid regulations would be issued if he didn’t inform me of the reasons for his journey, to see if it was essential.
“Mr Mureddu then said to me ‘I will bring you to the Supreme Court. It will cost you money and your job, I swear to you.’ He said he could go wherever be wanted,” the Garda said.
He later issued two fixed charge penalty notices – and neither were paid, he said.
In reply to Inspector Finbarr Philpott, prosecuting, Garda Cafferkey said he was in uniform and driving a marked patrol car that day.
He said he received registered correspondence from the accused last Tuesday which contained a number of documents. The first document was a contract in red lettering.
“A purported contract,” Judge Brennan interjected. Garda Cafferkey agreed.
He said the document contained a number of points.
The first stated “Any man or woman acting as an agent for the Irish State who wishes to interfere with my God-given right to travel peacefully, he or she agrees to pay me €50,000.”
The next document contained the terms and conditions for entering into this contract, followed by copies of ’Living Testimony’ which was an affidavit, with a picture of Mureddu on it, in English and Irish.
The correspondence also contained copies of the tickets issued by Garda Cafferkey.
Another document was written in Italian, which Garda Cafferkey said he did not understand, while another document outlined copyright laws.
Judge Brennan remarked the same documents had been handed into the court by Mureddu.
He had been handed an additional document, he said, which was a notice challenging the court’s jurisdiction.
Mureddu said he had sent copies of the same documents to the Supreme Court, the Garda Commissioner and to all the authorities in the country, so that everyone would know he was acting in honour.
“I am not committing any crime. I didn’t create any injury or any problems to anybody in my travelling,” he said.
“And you’re demanding money from the State; you’re demanding compensation?” Judge Brennan asked.
Mureddu said he would not be demanding compensation if the case against him was dismissed.
He confirmed to the judge he was Italian and that he was not giving jurisdiction to anybody in the room to judge him.
Judge Brennan said he appreciated there was a constitutional right to liberty, but the State had to deal with a very difficult situation due to the pandemic where emergency regulations had to be introduced to protect society and they were only temporary and would be removed in due course.
He told Mureddu, that having read his documents and listened to his submissions, he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the State had proven its case and he was convicting him.
Insp. Philpott said Mureddu had two previous convictions, including a speeding conviction recorded in January 2019, for which he was fined €500, and in 2011 he was convicted of dangerous driving at Galway Circuit Court.
Mureddu interjected Garda Cafferkey was ‘playing God’.
In reply to the judge, Mureddu confirmed he was unemployed, paying rent and in receipt of social welfare.
Judge Brennan said he knew Mureddu felt strongly about these matters before convicting and fining him €150 for this, his second speeding offence.
He then imposed a €300 for breaching the temporary Covid regulation in place at the time, which he said reflected the serious nature of the offence.
He gave Mureddu six months to pay both fines as he was unemployed and granted him leave to appeal the convictions.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
