Court rejects inquiry into detention of jailed Strokestown eviction vigilante

The High Court has dismissed an application for an inquiry into the detention of a Mayo farmer convicted in connection with a vigilante attack on security personnel at a repossessed farmhouse near Strokestown in 2018. Mr Justice Mark Sanfey ruled that the application amounted to a collateral attack on the conviction and sentence imposed by the Circuit Criminal Court. Martin O'Toole, aged 59, of Claremorris was found guilty following a three-month trial earlier this year of multiple offences including aggravated burglary, violent disorder and assault. He received a 15-year sentence. The application, brought on O'Toole's behalf by two associates, argued the trial was fundamentally flawed and that certain evidence including body-camera footage had not been disclosed to the defence. Mr Justice Sanfey held that an appeal was the appropriate remedy for such complaints and that O'Toole had failed to demonstrate the trial was defective to the required legal standard.