Gemma O’Doherty: Judge Mark Sanfey wilfully ignores criminal acts by Edel Campbell and her lawyers Ciaran Mulholland and David Kennedy in his court.

Every Irish person should be repulsed by the taxpayer-funded corruption and fraud taking place in the court of Mark Sanfey to silence an investigative journalist in the course of her work. Update 8pm

The fund organised by third parties to pay Campbell and her lawyers in breach of the law and Gemma O’Doherty’s most fundamental rights

HERE IS THE LATEST AFFIDAVIT TO THE COURT THE CONTENTS OF WHICH MARK SANFEY IS IGNORING. SANFEY AGAIN REFUSED TO ALLOW GEMMA O’DOHERTY TO ATTEND COURT VIRTUALLY THIS MORNING SO MORE LIES COULD BE TOLD ABOUT HER. EDEL GILSENAN AND HER FAMILY ARE WELL-KNOWN TO THE GARDAI AND ARE BEING USED BY THE STATE TO HARASS GEMMA O’DOHERTY.

I, Gemma O’Doherty, an investigative journalist from the County of Dublin, hereby inform the Court and Mark Sanfey J that the plaintiff in this case, Edel Campbell of Kingscourt, Cavan, her solicitor Ciaran Mulholland of Mulholland Law, Belfast and her barrister David Kennedy SC are being directly supported by third-party funding in this action in breach of the rules of maintenance and champerty and the law of Ireland. If this case is not now struck out by Sanfey J, it will be the subject of an appeal to the higher courts and the European Courts.

Third-party funding of a civil court action is a criminal offence and a civil tort in Ireland, as upheld by the High Court and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 2017 (Persona Digital Telephony Ltd V Minister For Public Enterprise Anor).    

This matter is now the subject of a Garda investigation and has been referred to The Law Society of Ireland, The Bar Council of Ireland and The Law Society of Northern Ireland. 

The fundraiser in question can be found here: www.gofundme.com/f/landmark-legal-case-against-gemma-odoherty.  It is named ‘Landmark Legal Action Against Gemma O’Doherty’. This is an outrageous breach of the defendant’s right to a fair trial and proper due process. It is also defamatory of her and malicious and false claims have been made about her.   

The fundraiser states that the money raised will be used to fund Edel Campbell and her legal team and was established in conjunction with them. It has been in operation since the case was launched. The fundraiser is being funded by parties - many of which are suspiciously anonymous - with no direct link to the case, in breach of the law and court rules.

In entering into this litigation funding arrangement, the plaintiffs are engaging in an abuse of process and are contraversing rules on maintenance and champerty. 

Maintenance and champerty are criminal offences as well as torts, being common law offences which have had statutory recognition for hundreds of years. The Maintenance and Embracery Act 1634, “the Act of 1634”, was retained by the Statute Law Revision Act, 2007 and upheld by The Supreme Court as recently as 2017. 

Maintenance may be defined as the giving of assistance, by a third party, who has no interest in the litigation, to a party in litigation. 

A definition of the crime of maintenance and the crime of champerty may be found in legal texts. Thus, Cross & Jones, An Introduction to the Criminal Law, 4th Ed., (London, 1959), at p. 294, defines the crime of “Maintenance” as:- 

         “… the officious intermeddling in a civil suit, which usually takes the form of the payment of costs by a stranger or without any interest in the litigation in question”.

In 2017, The Supreme Court reaffirmed the illegality of maintenance and champerty http://www.supremecourt.ie/Judgments.nsf/1b0757edc371032e802572ea0061450e/30b4f1eeaaf5d9a480258129003925fe?OpenDocument

Fundraising to sue another person in Ireland is a criminal offence and a tort in civil law, reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as recently as 2017

Other matters which are of relevance will now be restated in this affidavit. Firstly, Ms O’Doherty is currently travelling abroad on an international speaking tour and a religious retreat. It is outrageous of Sanfey J to have issued an attachment order for her in a civil matter and this attack on her and press freedom by him has been the subject of much outrage both internationally and abroad. He is gaining a name for himself as a rogue judge who is attacking a multi award-winning journalist with an impeccable track record. Ms O’Doherty - at great inconvenience to herself - made herself available on Friday and was waiting for several hours to go online to the court but was not permitted for some unknown reason. The court was hearing virtually that day but she was denied the right to attend. This is yet another grave breach of Ms O’Doherty’s fundamental rights and will be appealed.

At no point has Gemma O’Doherty made any contact with Edel Campbell whatsoever and has never attempted to contact her. Gemma O’Doherty has been forced to block Ms Campbell when Ms Campbell was trolling her online in the middle of the night and texting her mobile phone. Somehow Ms Campbell came to have Gemma O’Doherty’s mobile. This is a serious breach of Gemma O’Doherty’s privacy and must be explained. Some members of Ms Campbell’s family are well-known to the gardai as heroin dealers and are dangerous criminals having mugged elderly people in Cavan.

At no point did Gemma O’Doherty state that Diego Gilsenan (18) died as a result of the vaccine. She stated clearly in her article in The Irish Light that she did not know how he died. She stated that we need to know why so many young people like him are dying. Excess mortality in Ireland has peaked to more than 20pc since 2021. The article by Gemma O’Doherty was written out of care and concern over the deaths of so many young Irish people and was a critical and perfectly legitimate journalistic exercise.  

Gemma O’Doherty used a stamp-sized picture (one inch squared) of Diego Gilsenan, an adult, which was already published widely all over the internet. She did not name him. There is no breach of either law or ethics in doing this and it is normal journalistic practice. Ms O’Doherty did however remove the picture of Diego almost a year ago from the online version of her newspaper, out of good will, although she was under no legal or moral obligation to do so. She is perfectly entitled to publish the inquest report which is a public document.

Ms Campbell has been given free run of the national airwaves to make highly defamatory claims about Ms O’Doherty which are untrue and a flagrant abuse of court rules. The respondent has done everything possible to defend her good name from these outlandish and bizarre attacks. Campbell’s lawyers have also stated that they want to use the case to change the law in Ireland to stop journalists examining suspicious deaths. This is an outrageous attack on free speech and freedom of the press. It would also be unconstitutional and a breach of the Coroners Act. 

Judge Mark Sanfey is fully aware crimes are taking place in his court at the hands of Campbell’s lawyers but he turns a blind eye and denies Gemma O’Doherty her most fundamental human rights as a citizen and a journalist

When Gemma O’Doherty examined the inquest report, she uncovered many flaws and contradictions in it, including inconsistencies between Ms Campbell’s statement and that of Owen McArdle - the son of a senior Garda - who was the last person with Diego on the night of his death in August 2021. For some unexplained reason, Mr McArdle did not have to attend the inquest, and his statement, which is unsigned, was taken in absentia. The cause of death on the inquest report has been crossed out without medical initials and replaced with another cause. This is highly irregular. The public need to know why this is the case and informed about all of the other inadequacies pertaining to the inquest. 

Ms Campbell’s explanation about moving her son’s lifeless body from the ‘thing’ in the garden shed before emergency services and Gardai arrived, and what happened in the hours before she allegedly found it are contradictory and bizarre and warrant full journalistic scrutiny.  It must also be asked why there was no thorough Garda investigation given the serious discrepancies in the inquest report and witness statements. The inquest shows that Ms Campbell has provided inconsistent evidence in her scant and contradictory testimony and this must be scrutinised and cannot be impeded by any judge. Everything Ms O’Doherty has exposed about the failings of the inquest are perfectly within her remit to do so as a journalist - with full protection in law under the Irish Coroners Act and many European and international conventions on Freedom of the Press. The Coroners Act states clearly that inquest reports shall be made available to the public. That is what Gemma O’Doherty has done in her capacity as an experienced investigative journalist and will continue to do. Any changes to the law on publishing inquests are a matter of public policy.

At the funeral of Diego Gilsenan, the priest spoke about the scourge of drug-dealing in his locality in Cavan. The funeral was put online for public view. Ms O’Doherty reported on this matter, which is of huge public importance. Why was the funeral video subsequentially taken down from the internet, after evidence of criminal behaviour was reported on it? Some members of Edel Campbell’s family have been involved in drugs and are known to the Gardai. It is also alleged that Diego Gilsenan was using drugs. This is a matter of enormous public interest. 

David Kennedy SC for Edel Campbell stands accused of the crime of maintenance which has been reported to the Gardai. He has criminally defamed Gemma O’Doherty and is using court privilege to tell lies about her

The journalism Gemma O’Doherty engaged in in exposing the flaws of the inquest is the most important form of investigative journalism that exists. The respondent is a journalist whose work has led to the reopening of murders and the jailing of paedophiles. Sanfey J has carried out a gross attack on the respondent’s good name by suggesting her investigation into Diego Gilsenan’s death is not journalism. He has shown himself to be utterly biased.

Ms Edel Campbell is involved in a criminal fundraiser and has committed perjury and fraud in her action against Gemma O’Doherty. Judge Mark Sanfey has tolerated the litany of corrupt and illegal behaviour committed by Ms Campbell even though very specific proof of this has been provided to him in sworn evidence by Gemma O’Doherty. Judge Mark Sanfey is denying Gemma O’Doherty her rights enshrined in Irish and European law to report on a case of such enormous public importance. He is involved in an aggressive attack on press freedom. His actions are unconstitutional and will be referred to higher authorities should he attempt to silence her in her work. He should recuse himself immediately from this case, especially since he denied Gemma O’Doherty and John Waters a judicial review in their action against the lockdown and is clearly biased against them. Due to his egregious actions, his attacks on Gemma O’Doherty and press freedom are now gaining traction internationally resulting in huge support for her. 

I hereby seek an order by way of a Declaration or otherwise, pursuant to the inherent jurisdiction of this Court and/or Order 34 of the Rules of the Superior Courts, that in entering into this litigation funding arrangement, the plaintiff and her legal team are engaging in an abuse of process and the law and are contraversing rules on maintenance and champerty, and that this case should be struck out with immediate effect. I also request that Sanfey J withdraw from the record of the court and media the scandalous remarks he made about Gemma O’Doherty in relation to her diligent public interest investigative journalism examining the sudden deaths of young people in Ireland.   

Signed

Gemma O’Doherty

February 26th 2024

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