A man who lived-streamed himself driving his car into an anti-immigration protester during a demonstration in Dublin has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Stephen Bedford (38) with an address at Merchants Quay, Dublin, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday, having pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle through a crowd of people, creating a substantial risk of death or serious harm to others at the Five Lamps junction on February 15th, 2023.
Garda Eoin Cannon testified that he saw the defendant at an anti-immigration protest in the Amiens Street area that evening.
Bedford was conducting a one-man counter protest, and was carrying a large backpack, with a speaker and microphone.
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Other protesters became volatile with Bedford and the gardaí had to intervene. The officers suggested that he leave for his own safety, and he did so.
Later, the garda said he saw a car moving through the crowd, hitting one person - the injured party in the case. The vehicle came to a stop and he saw that Bedford was the driver. There were then further confrontations between the defendant and the protesters.
The injured party told gardaí that he was attending the protest with his son, and was listening to someone speaking when he saw a car coming towards him on the wrong side of the road. He said that he told a woman with a buggy to get out of the way and then saw that the driver was using a camera.
Garda Cannon explained that Bedford was streaming the events to Facebook.
The injured party said that he put his hand on the bonnet out of instinct in order to not go under the car. However, he said that it was going at speed, so he took his hand off and was hurt. He said that he had to attend hospital for medical treatment.
Footage from Bedford’s own phone was played to the court. It showed him leaving a line of traffic stopped at the blocked junction, crossing onto the other side of the road, and turning into another road on which the injured party was standing. The injured party held his hand on the bonnet before moving out of the way.
Under cross examination by Patrick Jackson BL, defending, Garda Cannon agreed that 150 people had blocked the junction from all directions. However, the garda said that Bedford could easily have made a U-turn.
Garda Cannon agreed that two masked men were seen looking into Bedford’s vehicle before he made the manoeuvre out of the line of traffic. He also accepted that people were striking the vehicle with their hands.
The garda agreed that 15 males had surrounded the vehicle when it came to a stop and that gardaí helped his client by getting him out of there.
He also agreed that a doctor had noted no visible bruising to the injured party’s foot, toe or leg, and that no treatment was needed.
Garda Cannon accepted that many of Bedford’s previous convictions related to various protests, where he had overstepped the line, and that he had very passionate beliefs about people seeking asylum.
He said that the guilty plea was of assistance, adding that he ‘wouldn’t disagree’ with Mr Jackson’s assertion that trials involving people on opposite sides of the political spectrum can be difficult for gardaí.
Mr Jackson handed the court several letters, including one from Bedford’s doctor which said that he had a serious condition ‘at the highest end of the scale’.
Counsel asked that the judge allow him to attend an important medical appointment he has in the coming weeks.
He also handed in testimonials from several people who outlined the volunteer work Bedford does with the marginalised, including the homeless and addicts.
One professional wrote of him that: “At times he’s not got the balance right between protecting those in need and staying on the right side of the law.
“He has spent his life giving up his own time to help others,” said Mr Jackson.
Counsel submitted that Bedford had driven away from the area because he was in fear of his life.
He said that his client was known as a counter protester to the anti-immigration protest and was extremely afraid. He said that, when his vehicle stopped, Bedford was surrounded by people saying they would commit violence against him, and that people had run towards his vehicle.
“He should have remained stopped. He was very afraid,” he said.
Judge Martin Nolan noted that the speed was not high, but said that Bedford could have caused injury.
“I couldn’t be certain that this man will not reoffend,” he said. “I think he’s very righteous in his own cause.”
He jailed Bedford for 16 months, and said that: “if the authorities feel it’s in his interest to go to that (medical) appointment, they should bring him.”
