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.