Anti-trans teacher arrested for second time for refusing to stay away from school
Enoch Burke will remain in prison this Christmas after refusing to abide by his court order… again. (Twitter/@deirdremolumby)
Teacher Enoch Burke, who was suspended for refusing to use a student’s pronouns, has been arrested for breaching an injunction.
Burke reportedly returned to Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath, Ireland despite an injunction forbidding him from attending.
He had worked as a teacher at the school, but was suspended with full pay in August pending a disciplinary process over his refusal to use a trans student’s chosen name and pronouns.
After he continued to turn up at the school, he was was jailed in September after refusing to observe a court injunction preventing him from entering, and was kept in Mountjoy Prison until December.
After his release he continued to attend the school, The Independent reports, despite a continued injuction.
On Tuesday (24 January) he was arrested after turning up at the school gates, expecting to be let in.
Shortly after being let go by police officers, he returned to the school yet again, claiming he was “wrongfully” arrested for trespass.
A Garda spokesperson said Burke had “subsequently been released pending the submission of a file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.“
Burke said: “It’s not trespassing to turn up at your place of work, that’s absolutely not trespassing.”
It came after a family member said in a statement last week that Burke had been dismissed, following the completion of the school’s disciplinary hearing.
Burke claimed that the “purported dismissal” was not due to take effect for several months and, as a result, he believed himself to still be a school employee.
“All of this simply because I won’t accept transgenderism,” he said.
“It’s absolutely preposterous and very, very sad. It’s really terrible and it’s very, very wrong.”
According to PA reporters, Burke has been repeatedly standing outside the school since his short-lived arrest.
He was seen standing outside the school building in the pouring rain after being dropped off by his father on Wednesday (25 January) morning.
Despite his initial suspension, the evangelical Christian continued to turn up for work, prompting officials to secure the court order that temporarily prevented him from entering the school.
Following his previous arrest in 2022 Burke told the court during trial that, if he was not jailed, he would turn up for work the next morning.
“I love my school. I am here today because I would not call a boy a girl,” he said.
“It is not something I will do. It is a violation of my conscience.”
How did this story make you feel?
