Jobstown Six All Found Not Guilty Of False Imprisonment
The Jobstown Six have all been acquitted of the false imprisonment of former Tánaiste Joan Burton and her adviser Karen O’Connell.
The jury cleared all of the accused, including Solidarity TD Paul Murphy, after three hours of deliberations.
They’d been accused of trapping the women inside two Garda vehicles during a water charge protest in Jobstown in November 2014.
The jury came back to a packed court room just after 12.15 this afternoon.
Paul Murphy was the first of the six accused to learn he’d been found not guilty on both counts.
The unanimous verdict was met with load cheers and applause.
The huge crowd descended into silence as his five co-accused were also cleared of the charges but the room erupted again when the foreperson was finished delivering the verdicts.
A large media presence and supporters gathered outside the building as the six accused left as free men.
Meanwhile in the Dail the outcome of the Jobstown trial has been labelled a "stunning defeat" for the government.
Solidarity TD Mick Barry drew attention to Garda statements which had been discredit and called for other charges relating to the protests to be dropped.
But Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has denied there was any government agenda at stake in its prosecution or outcome.