When I first read this court report in the Irish Times I wondered whether it was a spoof.
A judge was challenged by a defendant yesterday to produce his oath of office before proceeding with a case being heard at Wexford District Court.
“Where did you read that?” asked the judge.
“The Constitution. It says that a judge must offer up his oath when requested and I am asking you, do you have your oath?” said Mr Sludds, before picking up a copy of the Constitution and quoting from it at length.
“This is not a quiz, I ask the questions. I made my oath in front of the Chief Justice and I have no idea if he kept a record or not,” the judge replied.
The defendant – who identified himself to the garda as ‘Bobby of the family Sludds’ – disputes that he is the ‘Bobby Oliver Sludds’ named in the summons.
Mr Sludds then handed up a copy of his birth certificate to the court and repeated that he was not the man named in the summons.
Having heard repeated denials that he was the man named, the judge said he had no choice but to remand Mr Sludds in custody because there was some confusion about his true identity.
“I can’t accept a bail bond from someone whose signature can’t be verified,” he said, remanding Mr Sludds to Cloverhill prison.
“You can’t do this. This isn’t over. You can expect a bill,” Mr Sludds shouted as he was led away.
I imagine we’ll be reading more about Mr Sludds (next) day in court …
Alan Meban. Tweets as @alaninbelfast. Blogs about cinema and theatre over at Alan in Belfast. A freelancer who writes about, reports from, live-tweets and live-streams civic, academic and political events and conferences. He delivers social media training/coaching; produces podcasts and radio programmes; is a FactCheckNI director; a member of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland; and a member of the Corrymeela Community.