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news report
 Wednesday April 25, 2007 10:28 by LM - Victims of Legal Profession Society
 Jailed man is denied Habeus Corpus Thomas Kennedy, an elderly Tipperary farmer is still in jail after over 40 days. He was put in jail for contempt of court by Justice Olive Buttimer when he insisted on reading his own sworn affidavit from the witness box. He has written records of the purchase of the farm from his late brother yet the court refuses to allow his evidence to be heard and sent him to jail. He refuses to be removed from his farm and therefore cannot purge the contempt. He needs the light of publicity to protect him. This is the role of Indymedia. They are not the Rossport Five, the Birmingham Six or indeed the Guildford Four, they are the Thurles Three who were wrongfully imprisoned in Limerick Prison when they refused to vacate the farm of land which they purchased from their now deceased brother some thirty odd years ago. |
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Comments (11 of 11)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11Just of out of interest- why is the state after their land? Who are the vested interests involved?
This is awful, poor things. Could we have some more details n what actions can people take?
As of today, 6th April, Thomas Kennedy is still in Cork prison. Friens of Thomas including Mr john Gill of VLPS and other VLPS activists have been trying for several weeks to get thomas out and/or get attention to his plight. A protest outside the Dail has been held and another is planned. Today, john Gill wrote to Thomas Kennedy and he has asked that this letter get maximum publicity. I paste it here:
"Tom Kennedy
Cork Prison
Rathmore Road
Cork City
26/4/2007
Hello Tom,
I have given your case a maximum of publicity in Ireland and England.
A Doctor Rosaleen O'Brien from England who comes from the town of Templemore phoned me to ask if what was happening to you was true and she is now writing some stuff to send to me.
Tom O'Connor who said that he was a friend of yours wrote from England to offer his support.
We did not go to Cork Prison because we were told that you only wanted certain people to call to the prison.
We protested outside Dáil Éireann last Tuesday and I talked to Noel Davern of Fianna Fáil and many other TDs from Fine Gael, The Labour Party and the Greens. Some of them said that they were aware of your case but walked away and said no more.
We will be at the Dáil again next Tuesday from all over Ireland and will continue to embarrass the Government to do something about the corrupt judges.
There is a letter from a Roscommon solicitor who is not afraid to speak out.
We have a message from a decent High Court Registrar who told us there are only about five NON-CORRUPT judges operating in the Four Courts and we are highlighting this on the world wide web.
A Fianna Fáil TD from the Midlands believes that this is the case, and another Fianna Fáil worker told us that we do not stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting justice until the State does something about corrupt Judges.
I am now off to a meeting in Abbeyleix and will give this letter to everyone at the meeting and ask them to join us at the Dáil on Tuesday next. The Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is well aware of the extent of the corruption in the Judiciary but won't move until he is forced to do so.
John Gill
CC to Mrs B Kennedy of Rossestown, Thurles, Co Tipperary"
Can we have more on the background to this case pleae?
Ok this whole story is vague and that letter is just confusing. I have some basic questions:
1. If the brother is dead then why havn't they just inherited the land?
2. who wants them to vacate the farm?
3. what interest has the state in the land?
4. Why has this issue come before the courts?
5. Why was it necessary to read a sorn statement? what did it contain that couldn't have been brought out by this mans lawyer questioning man?
6. What reason did the court give for refusing to accept the documents submitted by the men as proof that they had purchased the land from their borther?
Some info would be usefull.
Please Please, Indymedia Editors, please find it in your collective hearts to have pity on Victims such as Thomas Kennedy and a number of months ago. John McMahon. These are men of the land and not the type of people who should ever find themselves in jail for standing up to sharp solicitors and trying to hold onto their land and /or tell their story. The fact that they are of the land, not young, not greatly schooled and not from Dublin, should not be an impediment to getting a hearing on this site. It is very upsetting that posts in support of these men consistently get removed by the editors. It is clear that some readers including CK and Kieran O'Sullivan, want more information so please do not remove this post now. On behalf of Thomas, I beg you!
Cases such as Thomas's get unnecessarily complicated by lawyers and courts but for lay people I will try to give a lay persons explanation for why Thomas has found himself in jail for so long.
Thomas bought land from his brother in the 1974. He paid him with cheques and has a record of the cheques. He subsequently farmed this land with his other two brothers for over twenty years. In 1996, the brother that sold the land passed away leaving a will. His will contained other land but did not contain the particular parcel of land bought by Thomas.
In spite of this, the executor/solicitor claimed it was part of the deceased's estate and brought a case against Thomas and his brothers to remove them from the land. In that case, Thomas's lawyers let him down badly by not submitting the documents that would have proven the purchase, so Thomas and his brothers lost the case and a court order ensued to remove them from the land.
Because of the fact that his lawyers let him down, and charged him tens of thousands for doing it, he no longer trusts lawyers so he is not represented. In the circuit court in Waterford in March he was attepting to represent himself and was anxious to tell his story. Judge Olive Buttimer would not allow it, Tom protested and Judge Buttimer sentenced him to remain in jail until he apologises to her for insisting on telling the court his story in his own words. He will not provide such an apology, so he remains in jail.
As to why, Thomas has been put in this position, A probable explanation is that the solicitor having carriage of the original sale in 1974 failed to register the change of ownership. His solicitor colleague's, including those supposed to be representing Thomas, subsequently sought to cover up this negligence by trying to silence and bury Thomas. He is not for silencing or burying.
For younger readers, living in towns and cities, this may all seem incredible. Sadly this kind of solicitor "cock up" followed by judicial "cover up" is all too common. Such cock-ups often benefit the solicitors themselves leading to a belief that some solicitors have enriched themselves by such means. VLPS meetings in every county over the past twelve months have heard people from the floor telling story after sorry story of such professional abuse. It is widespread and the Law Society and the Courts currently provide no redress. The objective of VLPS is to provide comfort and a hearing to such people and to campaign for fairer judges and proper accountabilty for the legal professions.
In regard to further discussion, I request that people await Tom's release before debating further on the issues. There is always room for discussion, but out of regard for an imprisoned man, it should await his release.
A bit of good news is that yesterday, Thomas was moved from Cork prison to Shelton Abbey where hopefully life will be more comfortable. Due to dissolution of the Dail, the VLPS protest on behalf of Thomas that was to be held outside the Dail tomorrow is now moved to Dublin Castle commencing at 12.00 noon.
The VLPS protest march yesterday was very well attended. Marchers asembled in the yard of Dublin Castle and a delegation entered the offices of the Revenue Commissioners to raise with them the issue of the practise of solicitors unduly holding onto stamp duty money paid to them by clients. The delegaion was very well recieved.
The march with the friendly Garda escort then called to the State Solicitors office in Ship St. The delegation of Mr Gill and Ms Gallagher presented the VLPS demand for the setting up of a new office of Public Solicitor whose role should be to safeguard the interests of the Public (In contrast to the State Solicitor who acts for the state).
The march then proceeded to the Four Courts where John Gill addressed the crowds and leaflets listing VLPS demands were handed out to the public including all judges and lawyers around the Four Courts. Passers-by on the quays showed their appreciation in many ways including sounding horns in support of the marchers. Onlookers seemed to appreciate the fact that the type of person on his march are not typical protesters and were not accustomed to bringing their problems to the streets in this manner.
When mature middle-class ladies and gentlemen feel their country's legal professions and court system is rotten and corrupt and go on the streets, it is time for Ireland to take notice.
Meanwhile, Thomas Kennedy is settling ino Shelton Abbey prison in Arklow. He says it is like a hotel and he can take and make honecalls and he intends to wait there until Judge Buttimer allows him to tell his story in open court. (Tax payers please note)
My God, Hope he's all right and everything goes okay
I do not have the grasp of all the so called lega aspects of Tom's case, but was able to contribute to including Tom Kennedy's case to the London audience recently. From all my grasp of it Tom Kennedy should not be deprived of his property as this is protected by European Court of Human Rights. It was very distressing to see Tom Kennedy arriving at the Four Courts in 'handcuffs'. And then having to leave again. I cannot see that Tom Kennedy has committed any crime. Regards Joe Ferris, Nurse Lecturer, BSC. RMN. RGN. DN. RCNT. RNT.
Every VLPS member and journalist and fair minded citizen must get behind a campaign to GET TOM KENNEDY HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.
It is a national disgrace of enormous proportions that Tom Kennedy is in jail since 6th March. A family man in his seventies, supported by his wife, son and brother, has been incarcarated by Judge Olive Buttimer. She has brought him in handcuffs before her on a monthly basis and each time returned him to prison. Tom's CRIME is that he refuses to vacate his Co Tipperary farm that he has farmed continuosly with his family since he bought it in the 1970's.
How is he in this mess? Answer! colleages of Messers Byrne & Lynn, solicitors, solcitors and more ***** solicitors. A solicitor who failed to register his title has left an unwholly mess. Solicitors and courts trying to cover up for that solicitors incompetence just dug a deeper and deeper hole. Their reasoning was that stonewalling and solidarity (collusion) between lawyers and courts succeeds in rolling over 99% of their victims.
They did not know that TOM KENNEDY is one of the remaining 1% and he will not be rolled over. Judge Buttimer has played alternative "good cop - bad cop" games to get him to agree to leave his farm. She full well knows the strength of the dictum "POSSESSION IS NINE POINTS OF THE LAW" and that is why she wants him to give up his posession so that he can be rolled over.
TOM KENNEDY knows that dictum aswell and will not give up his possession. TOM is determined to walk his beloved fields. He ploughed them, he sowed them, he fenced them, he picked stones off them, he pulled weeds off them all his life. Tom vows that whenever he gets out he will walk those fields within hours of his release He will NEVER agree to forsake those fields and move to a hotel and engge new solicitors as ridiculously suggested by Judge Buttimer in Carlow courthouse last month.
Judge Buttimer has lost the plot and lost the game. Tom Kennedy must be immediately released to spend Christmas at home in Rossestown, Thurles.
Start the slogan now TOM KENNEDY HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
I am loking for advice on Contempt of Court as a young man has lived and worked on a farm in County limerick with two batchelor brothers for over 20 years. He looked after them and worked the land the way they wanted. They both promised him the land when they passed away Danny helped with everything and they treated him like a son. they lived there happily together in 2001 one brother got a stroke and passed away and a few years later the other brother died without making a will. Dan took care of everything , then from nowhere distant relatives came back to take the property off Dan Doherty there was a court case and eventhough he has enough evidence he lost the case so the Judge gave him a court order to vacate the property but Dan insisted he was promised the property and was arrested for contempt of Court ? and is now in Limerick Prison for Contempt of Court
any help or advice would be greatly appreciated
regards
Joe