Edward Horgan and Dan Dowling were acquitted of criminal damage after they damaged US naval plane
The men, who represented themselves, also pleaded not guilty to entering the curtilage of Shannon Airport as trespassers with the intention of damaging property there.
“You are upstanding people, family people; you have behaved with courtesy and dignity throughout,” said Judge Baxter, wishing both men and their families well. However, she upbraided Horgan and Dowling for “running across the airport in the dark of night”, saying they had potentially exposed staff at the airport to danger.
The judge asked the investigating garda to recommend a local charity in Co Clare, and then ordered the accused to pay €5,000 each to the Clare Haven Refuge for women within the next 12 months. It was the State’s case that Dowling and Horgan gained access to a taxiway at Shannon Airport with the intention of causing damage to aircraft parked there which were the property of the US Navy.
Horgan told the jury the damage caused had no monetary value and the acts had been carried out from an honestly held belief that they were necessary to protect others.Talking to reporters after the judgment, Horgan said: “We won’t be celebrating today. We will be commemorating all the children killed in the Middle East – up to 1 million children – and unfortunately still being killed as we speak.”
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