US army vets guilty over airport protest
Anti-war pair broke into Shannon
TWO US army veterans in their 80s have been convicted of interfering with the operation of Shannon Airport as part of an anti-war protest three years ago.
Ken Mayers, 85, and Tarak Kauff, 80, were acquitted of criminal damage to an airport perimeter fence and of trespassing with the intent to commit an offence or interfere with property.
The jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal returned a majority verdict of guilty on the charge of interfering with the operation, safety or management of an airport by entering the runway area and causing the airport to close.
After the verdicts were handed down, defence counsel asked that the men be allowed to return to the US and come back in a fortnight for sentence. This was opposed by the prosecution.
Judge Patricia Ryan noted the men had been found guilty of a serious charge.
She said: “They have lost the presumption of innocence.”
The judge ordered them to return their passports and she set a sentence date of today.
The five-day trial heard that at around 10am on St Patrick’s Day 2019 the two men cut a hole in the airport perimeter fence with a pair of bolt cutters, causing damage to the value of €590, before walking on to airport lands.
They were met on a taxiway by an airport officer after staff were alerted to a security breach.
When asked what they were doing, the pair said they were peace protesters who were there to inspect US military aircraft. They had a folded-up banner with them.
The airport was shut down for about 40 minutes, the trial heard, with two planes delayed in departing and one cargo plane forced to stay in the air until given the all-clear. The court heard both men served in the US military before becoming anti-war activists in the 1960s.
They are members of a Us-based group called Veterans for Peace.
From the outset, they both admitted cutting the hole in the fence and entering the airport lands.
They said they did so to protest against the US military use of Shannon as a stop-over en route to places such as the Middle East.
Mayers, of Monte Alte
Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Kauff, of Arnold Drive, Woodstock, New York, had both pleaded not guilty to trespass, criminal damage and interfering with the operation, safety or management of Shannon Airport on March 17, 2019. The atmosphere in the trial was at times congenial, with every airport official and gardai who dealt with the men describing them as courteous and respectful.
In turn, Mayers and Kauff praised the officials they dealt with for their respect and professionalism, saying they had never been treated better in their years of protesting.
In his closing speech, Tony Mcgillicuddy BL, prosecuting, acknowledged that the jury might have sympathy for the two defendants.
He said: “They are sincere and honourable persons.”
But Mr Mcgillicuddy said the jury must put sympathy aside and have regard to the law in the case.
Michael Hourigan BL, defending Mayers, said the men were not engaged in “political posturing”, but had an honestly-held belief that the actions they did on that day could save lives.