MAN AT CENTRE OF GORT HOUSE SIEGE GETS FIVE YEAR SENTENCE

Date Published: 27-Jul-2009

A 42 year old Gort man has been sentenced to 5 years in prison with the final year suspended for a incident which led to a house siege in Gort almost three years ago.Anthony Burke of 67 Crowe Street Gort appeared before Galway Circuit Criminal Court today.In May this year Mr Burke, had denied during his eight-day trial that he was in possession of two shotguns and 1400 shotgun cartridges with intent to endanger life at Crowe Street, Gort, between 11 p.m. on October 8, and 9 p.m. on October 9, 2006. He also denied a charge of being in possession of the shotguns in suspiciouscircumstances during the siege.The jury found Mr. Burke not guilty of all three charges but they did find him guilty of being in possession of the shotguns in suspicious circumstances on October 9, 2006, and he was sentenced today.