BY DAVID FORSYTHE
A WOMAN who damaged a holy statue on sale at a market stall claiming it offended her religious beliefs has been sent to prison after pleading guilty to four counts of criminal damage.
Court presenter Sgt Trish O’Sullivan told Bantry District Court that Margaret Buttimer, 69, of The Perrin Inn, Glengarriff saw the statue on sale at a stall in the Reenrour carpark, Bantry at about 12.30pm on the afternoon of August 30th, 2024. In a report to gardaí, the stall holder said he observed Ms Buttimer approach his stall and deliberately knock over a statue of the Holy Family on sale for €850. The statue was cracked and chipped as a result.
The stall holder reported the incident and gardaí contacted Ms Buttimer, who admitted she had knocked it over. Sgt O’Sullivan said that after being spoken to by gardaí Ms Buttimer returned to the stall at 2pm in the afternoon on the same day and deliberately knocked over the statue again, resulting in further damage to such an extent that the item could no longer be sold.
Defence solicitor Flor Murphy said that his client had never come to the attention of gardaí in the first 60 years of her life. He said: ‘Then Covid came along and she ran into trouble with the Covid regulations and suddenly she’s committing offences.’
Mr Murphy said Ms Buttimer was originally from Bandon but was now living in homeless accommodation in Glengarriff and that her homelessness was a result of her continued legal issues in recent years. He said that Ms Buttimer had converted to Judaism and she told him that she knocked over the statue because it offended her religious beliefs.
He said that Ms Buttimer had quoted a passage from the Book of Exodus to explain her behaviour: ‘You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.’
The court heard that Ms Buttimer had 17 previous convictions, mostly for public order offences including two suspended sentences issued in 2023 and 2024 that were still in effect.
Judge Marie Keane said: ‘This person since their conversion also seems to have converted to disobeying directions from members of An Garda Síochána.’
The judge added that Ms Buttimer seemed to have no tolerance for the beliefs or livelihoods of other people. ‘Does she think her beliefs entitle her to act however she wants?’
Mr Murphy said his client believed ‘there was the law and there was a higher law’ and added that Ms Buttimer had not brought any compensation for the injured party.
Judge Keane said: ‘She has no respect whatsoever for the law of this land. This is escalating, she has been given suspended sentences on two occasions but now the jig is up. This is outrageous.’
For each of the two incidents Ms Buttimer was convicted and sentenced to three months in prison with the sentences to run consecutively.
She was also remanded in custody in relation to the 2023 suspended sentence on her own bond of €100 and in relation to the 2024 suspended sentence on her own bond of €100.
Recognisance in the event of an appeal was fixed at €200 cash.
