DPP v James McConnell
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | District Judge (MC) McNally |
| Judgment Date | 05 January 2016 |
| Neutral Citation | [2016] NIMag 1 |
| Date | 05 January 2016 |
| Year | 2016 |
| Court | Magistrates' Court (Northern Ireland) |
1
Neutral Citation No. [2016] NIMag 1
Ref:
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
Delivered:
05/01/2016
(subject to editorial corrections)*
DPP
-v-
JAMES MCCONNELL
________
DISTRICT JUDGE McNALLY
[1] James Mc Connell is charged that on a date unknown between the 17th May
2014 and the 22nd of May 2014, in the county court division of Belfast, he:
(i) sent by means of a public electronic communications network a
message or other matter that was grossly offensive, contrary to section
127(1)(a) of the Communications Act 2003
(ii) caused to be sent by means of a public electronic communications
network a message or other matter that was grossly offensive, contrary
to section 127(1)(b) of the Communications Act 2003.
[2] In opening the case Mr Russell, on behalf of the prosecution, stated that the
charges as above had been laid in the alternative. The case for the prosecution was
based on a sermon given by the defendant at the Whitewell Metropolitan Church on
18th May 2014. He referred to a section at page 5 of the transcript wherein the
defendant referred to Allah as a heathen, cruel and demon deity. He told of
Christians being persecuted for their faith and in particular a woman called Miriam
and concluded “These fanatical worshippers are the worshippers of the God called
Allah”.
Mr Russell accepted that these last words were not grossly offensive but part of the
context in the development of the sermon. He further accepted that the defendant
was entitled to describe Allah as a cruel, heathen and demonic deity in the course of
a sermon and that such views were protected by Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention.
The main focus of the prosecution case was the following passage:
“Today we see powerful evidence that more and
more Moslems(sic) are putting the Koran’s hatred of
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