Two "surprising candidates" have been handed suspended sentences at the Special Criminal Court for helping the Continuity IRA in a “bizarre” purported attack on Enniskillen police station three years ago.
The court previously heard that the attack on station - which was subsequently claimed by the Continuity IRA - went unnoticed at the time. However, a call about the incident, made to a media outlet, triggered a search in which an improvised “slam gun” was found close to the station.
Earlier this year Desmond Smith (65) , of Kilnavara Crescent, Co Cavan, pleaded guilty to knowingly rendering assistance to an organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA in the performance or furtherance of an unlawful object on March 18, 2021 within the State. Stephen Hamill (52), of Willow Ridge, Gortnakesh, Co Cavan, pleaded guilty to the same offence on March 13, 2021.
Imposing sentence on the two men at the three-judge, non-jury court yesterday, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the pair were “surprising candidates” for involvement in activity of this type. He said neither of the men have any previous convictions of relevance, noting Hamill is in his 50s and Smith is a man “well into his 60s”. Mr Justice Hunt said counsel for the two men had argued specifically for non-custodial sentences. He said given their early pleas and solemn undertakings alongside other mitigating factors, the court had concluded “on balance” that this was the route it would take in respect of both defendants.
Before sentencing the pair, the judge noted there was a “bizarre element” to the cases as authorities were unaware of the activities involved until phone calls made were followed up and the relevant materials were found. However, he went on to say that lending assistance to the kind of organisation with which the two men became embroiled was “a very serious matter”. Mr Justice Hunt imposed a sentence of four years in respect of Hamill but suspended this for a period of four years on condition that he enter into a bond of €100.
He sentenced Smith to a period of two years and nine months imprisonment and suspended this for a period of three years. Smith and Hamill were both arrested in February last year by members of the Special Detective Unit of An Garda Siochana.
Detective Garda Sergeant Ronan Judge told a previous hearing that between March 13 and 16 2021 a sequence of phone calls were made to media outlets in the North and Border region from different SIM cards by callers purporting to be from the Continuity IRA (CIRA). Calls were made to the BBC NI news desk, Northern Sound radio station and to the Irish News and the Impartial Reporter newspapers claiming that a CIRA bomb had been placed on the Newtownbutler Road in Fermanagh.
The Impartial Reporter received a call stating that shots were fired at the police station in Enniskillen on March 14, 2021, with the caller claiming to be from the CIRA. The caller stressed that the call was “not a hoax” and then offered a code word, said the detective. Another call was made by someone also purporting to be from the CIRA to the Irish News claiming that there was a bomb in a boat in north Fermanagh.
On March 16, 2021, a lady who answered a call at Northern Sound radio station was told that there had been an “attack” on Enniskillen police station two days earlier, and was told that this was at the orders of the “Army Council”, said Det Sgt Judge. The detective confirmed that at the time of that call there had not been a "general awareness" of an attack on the station. The woman receiving the phone call was told that the incident was “nothing to do with civilians but that a fight was to be brought against the Crown Forces”.
The detective told the court that the caller claimed a weapon had been fired from a “device” across the shore from Enniskillen PSNI station and repeated that there was no intention to harm civilians.
On St Patrick's Day, March 17, 2021, detectives searching nearby the station found an improvised device, made of a telescopic pipe inserted into a wider pipe, which was activated by “smacking” the base of the device. Det Sgt Judge said this device was known as a “slam gun”. In February 2021, Hamill had gone to a hardware store in Cavan and purchased “telescopic” pipes, similar to those discovered used in the attack on the PSNI station. A garda investigation, run in conjunction with the PSNI, used shop receipts, CCTV and interviews to identify Hamill buying SIM cards and phone top-ups in Cavan Town in March 2021.
The joint investigation led to a search warrant application on March 17, 2021, for the homes of Hamill and Smith, which was executed the following day. A search of Hamill’s home led to a number of phones being seized and to his arrest. In an interview, Hamill admitted that he had also put someone “intimately” related to him in position to buy phone top ups. Hamill admitted his involvement in buying telescopic pipes at the hardware shop similar to those used to make the “slam gun”.
A search of Smith’s home revealed a number of phones and a handset used in some of the phone calls but Smith initially denied knowledge of it. Smith told gardaí that he found the handset when the county council were clearing hedges near his house. The court previously heard that Smith has no previous conviction, while Hamill has three for road traffic offences.
Det Sgt Judge agreed with Bernard Condon SC, for Hamill, that his client answered questions when interviewed, admitted he bought SIM cards and identified himself from CCTV footage played to him. Counsel said his client was an “extremely accomplished” chef, a professional musician and a father, adding that his client and his brother cared for both their mother and for a “severely disabled” uncle. Mr Condon said his client was “under pressure for money at the time” and is a working man in construction with a wife and child.
Sean Guerin SC, for Smith, said his client, who has medical conditions, had members of family and children in Australia. Mr Guerin said Smith had no previous convictions and had been “caught up in something he wishes he didn’t get caught up in at all”. Mr Guerin said the court could be “fully confident” of Smith’s rehabilitation, submitting that he was a “decent man caught up in these activities”. Both Smith and Hamill took to the stand to vow that they would “disassociate” themselves from criminal organisations and Republican paramilitaries. They swore that they “repudiated” unlawful organisations “and all their acts”.
