Man cleared of IRA membership charge
A man who had documents in his bedroom on how to make explosives was today found not guilty of IRA membership.
Gary Roche, 29, from St Lawrence’s Road, Chapelizod in Dublin, had been charged under the offences against the state act after a raid on his house by the Special Detective Unit on November 4 last year.
At the Special Criminal Court, three judges took 20 minutes to find him not guilty of the charges.
“You are free to go, Mr Roche,” said Mr Justice Diarmuid O’Donovan, presiding.
He said there was no doubt attached to the evidence of Detective Chief Superintendent Philip Kelly, who said he believed Mr Roche was a member of the IRA on the day of the raid.
However, Mr Justice O’Donovan dismissed the two other main elements of the prosecution case – the discovery of documents in Mr Roche’s bedroom on how to make smokescreen, mercury, gunpowder, nitro-glycerine and gelatine and the transcript of Mr Roche’s garda interview, in which he repeatedly denied any involvement with the IRA.
There was a loud burst of applause from the viewing gallery when the verdict was announced.
Earlier, the court heard Mr Roche had been warned during his Garda interview that failure to answer questions could be used against him in court.
“I know I was arrested under suspicion of being a member of an illegal organisation,” he told gardaí.
“I’m not a member of the IRA.”
Judge Joseph Matthews asked if information on explosive-making techniques could have been downloaded from the internet.
“I understand it’s possible to download instructions for making an atomic bomb from the internet,” he said.
Dr Thomas Hannigan of the Forensic Science Laboratory confirmed in his statement that the information could have been downloaded or obtained from chemical record books and journals.
In his judgment, Mr Justice O’Donovan said the court was technically entitled to convict a person of IRA membership solely on the word of a Superintendent but that it was not disposed to do so unless it was corroborated by other evidence.
He said the documentation found in Mr Roche’s bedroom was not necessarily consistent with membership of an illegal organisation.
“It is equally consistent with someone who was interested in scientific evaluation,” he said.
He said Mr Roche had answered all the questions put to him about IRA membership and that no inference could be drawn from them.
Niall Binead, also known as Niall Bennett, (aged 35), of Faughart Road, Crumlin and Kenneth Donohoe (aged 26), of Sundale Avenue, Mountain View, Tallaght were each convicted of membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on October 10, 2002.
Mr Justice O’Donovan sentenced Mr Binead and Mr Donohoe to four years each in prison, dating from November 18.
He said he and the other two judges had totally disregarded the commentary in the media about the case.
He said the court had taken account of the two men’s personal circumstances and the fact that the Provisional IRA was on ceasefire, had engaged in decommissioning and was likely to do so in the near future.
However he said the court noted the reservations of Chief Superintendent Diarmuid O’Sullivan about the two men’s adherence to the IRA ceasefire.
