A JOINER from Northern Ireland who refused to answer questions from the police when he arrived at the Airport has been fined under Jersey’s anti-terrorism law.
Jonathan McDaid (24) became argumentative and started to record the officers on his phone after they asked why he had travelled to the Island, the Magistrate’s Court heard yesterday.
Failing to comply with instructions issued by the police at the ports is an offence under the 2002 Terrorism (Jersey) Law.
Advocate Mike Preston, defending, said he felt ‘extremely uncomfortable’ that McDaid now had a terrorism-related conviction for what amounted to ‘essentially daft behaviour’.
The court heard that McDaid arrived at the Airport on a flight from Luton on Monday 7 February and was approached by two officers.
Advocate Simon Crowder, prosecuting, said: ‘He was using his mobile telephone to record what was going on. He was argumentative and refused to stop recording.
‘He refused to answer any questions and tried to leave the room. He was asked why he was travelling to Jersey, where he was staying and what work he was doing. His only response was “are we done yet?”.’
Advocate Crowder added that McDaid had three previous convictions for unrelated offences.
The court heard that McDaid was warned that failing to co-operate was an offence under the Terrorism Law. He later admitted the offence and was fined £250 by the court.
Advocate Preston said that his client had already told Customs officers why he was in Jersey and had shown them his ID on arrival before being questioned again by two police officers, who he said he had met on a previous visit to the Island.
‘He had been approached by the officers before [on a previous visit] and asked some peculiar questions.
‘It was when approached by them at the Airport that matters got somewhat out of hand.
‘He felt somewhat put upon. He now wishes he hadn’t done what he did, by getting his phone out and recording what was going on.’
Advocate Preston continued: ‘Mr McDaid is not a terrorist and nothing at all suggests that he was. I feel extremely uncomfortable that he has pleaded guilty to a terrorist offence.
‘He is a 24-year-old joiner from Northern Ireland who wants to go home.’
The lawyer told the court that the conviction would have an unfair impact on his client’s future, predicting: ‘No doubt he is going to be stopped every time he goes through an airport because of this conviction.’
However, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris told McDaid: ‘If you had just answered the questions you would have been out of there.
‘Effectively it was obstructing the police in the discharging of their duties.’
He allowed McDaid to pay the fine at a rate of £50 per week.
