'Baleful and malign' former teacher Enoch Burke to spend Christmas in jail

Enoch Burke has been arrested numerous times for refusing to stay away from his former place of work. (YouTube) Ex-teacher Enoch Burke will spend Christmas in jail for a second time after the High Court refused to release him from prison over the festive period. The Irish former teacher will spend Christmas Day behind bars after he was jailed in November for contempt of court. Burke was sent back to jail two weeks ago for disobeying a court order not to enter Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath for at least three years after routine attempts to trespass on school grounds. In 2022, Burke was suspended and subsequently fired from a teaching position at the school for aggressively confronting the head teacher, who reprimanded him for refusing to use a 17-year-old trans student’s preferred name and pronouns. Over the last two years, he has been repeatedly arrested for showing up at the school, which he is no longer allowed to enter per the court order. Burke’s beliefs have repeatedly been described as “anti-trans” online. Enoch Burke will remain in prison this Christmas after refusing to abide by his court order… again. (Twitter/@deirdremolumby) During a Wednesday (3 December) morning court hearing, Burke yet again did not give a guarantee that he would abide by the court order if he were released, saying he did not accept that he was in contempt of court. Responding, Judge Cregan said he would no longer review the matter over the former teacher’s refusal to accept the blatant breach of his court order. In November, he described Burke and his family’s refusal to abide by court rulings a “deliberate, sustained, and concerted attack” on the authority of civil courts and the rule of law. He further accused the infamous anti-LGBTQ+ family of engaging in a “fanatical campaign” against both the court and the school. The Burke family are notorious in Ireland for their anti-LGBTQ+ activism, predicated on their hardline religious beliefs. The family have been compared to fundamentalist Christian anti-gay activists the Westboro Baptist Church. Since at least 2008, several members of the family have been arrested for interfering in legal cases and campaign against LGBTQ+ rights, with Enoch Burke being among those arrested. During the Wednesday hearing, Burke said he objected to the court’s description of him as a “baleful and malign presence” and an “intruder, stalking the school, its teachers, and its pupils.” According to RTE, he argued that he was not “baleful” because he had not engaged in physical violence. Judge Cregan responded, saying Mr Burke did not get “brownie points” for not physically threatening anyone, telling the former teacher he was living in a “fantasy land.” He reiterated that Burke’s imprisonment was not over “transgenderism,” but about his refusal to abide by the court’s instructions. Burke remained in jail during the 2023 Christmas period for similarly refusing to stay away from the school over the school year. How did this story make you feel? 🔥 Fired up ❤️ Love 😊 Happy 😐 Meh 😡 Annoyed 😢 Sad Sending reaction... Thanks for your feedback!

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