Leitrim man acquitted of dangerous driving in Russian embassy protest

A Ballinamore man who reversed a truck into the gates of the Russian Embassy two years ago in a protest against the war in Ukraine has been acquitted of dangerous driving following a trial.

However, the jury in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial of Desmond Wisley was unable to reach a verdict on a second charge of criminal damage.

Mr Wisley (51) of Tully, Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim had pleaded not guilty to criminal damage and dangerous driving on Orwell Road, Rathgar on March 7, 2022.

The jury today, Friday, unanimously returned a not guilty verdict in relation to the dangerous driving count, but Judge Elva Duffy was told it was unable to reach a verdict on the count of criminal damage. 

Judge Duffy thanked the jurors for the care and attention they had brought to the case and excused them from jury service for five years.

She adjourned the case in relation to the criminal damage charge until May 16 and remanded Mr Wisley on continuing bail until that date. 

During the five-day trial which sat this week, a building contractor who repaired the gates on behalf of the Office of Public Works, said it had to be reconstructed at a cost of €13,250 following the alleged incident.

Jurors were shown footage of the incident, along with a video of a family killed in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

During his direct evidence, Mr Wisley said he felt “compelled to do something” after watching this clip the day before the incident occurred. He said he “hatched a plan” to knock down the gates of the embassy to put pressure on Russia and stop the war in Ukraine.

Closing the case on behalf of the prosecution, Lisa Dempsey BL noted that people are entitled to peacefully protest, but a “citizen can't take the law into his own hands and break it without lawful excuse”.

She suggested that Mr Wisley's actions were not justified and while he made every effort to limit the damage, he could have injured someone behind the embassy gates.

“Notwithstanding his heartfelt sympathy for the family... it was not for him to take law into his own hands.”

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Wisley, who represented himself, said he “wanted to stand against Russia and draw attention to the plight of those poor people who were being murdered”.

“I believe what I did was a reasonable act to try to save others from being killed in the future. I hoped my actions [would] stop others from losing their loved ones.

Mr Wisley concluded by saying he “took this action as (he) believed it was a reasonable action to try to protect other lives in the future and to protect humanity”.