A truck driver will be sentenced on Friday for incitement to hatred over a livestream in which he said refugees were “here to rape women and children”.
In January 2023, Graham Carey (42) made a livestream on Instagram in which he called on listeners to gather at Finglas Garda station in north Dublin.
The recording was made in the days following an allegation by a local woman that she had been sexually assaulted by a refugee. This led to days of anti-migrant protests even after it emerged that the alleged assault involved a local white male.
Carey’s 30-minute livestream on January 30th was also recorded and posted on social media.
Carey, of Dunsink Drive, Finglas, was subsequently arrested and charged with using words that were threatening, abusive or insulting and intended to or likely to stir up hatred. He was also charged with distribution of a recording of images or sound likely to stir up hatred.
He pleaded not guilty to both offences, which are contrary to the 1989 Prohibition of Incitement To Hatred Act. A jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on both counts last April after a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
At the sentence hearing in the court on Thursday morning, Det Insp Gavin Ross told prosecuting counsel Diarmaid Collins the offences took place in the context of “disquiet” in the Finglas area after the spreading of misinformation with respect to an alleged sex assault.
He said investigations later determined that the alleged incident did not involve refugees or “people from another country”. Later, Carey, who was representing himself, accused the Garda witness of not doing his job and said “there was never a rape in Finglas, they set it up to get me” and claimed he was “a political prisoner”.
In the livestream, Carey stated that the Government is “rewarding evil” by allowing “rape-ugees” into the country “in order that they can rape our people”. He tells his audience that this is “putting your daughters on the f***ing menu for them”.
He went on: “If you refuse to get the f*** out of here you’re going to die on the island and we’ll f*** your bleeding corpse into the sea.”
The Garda witness told the court that Carey went on to call on listeners to gather at the Garda station. He said that Carey stated that “if gardaí don’t get out”, he would not be “responsible for what happened in the Garda station”.
During the trial, Carey asserted he was in Northern Ireland when he recorded the livestream. The prosecution than led evidence to show he was driving an articulated lorry in this jurisdiction.
The trial also saw footage of a “couple of hundred” people being led by Carey into Finglas Garda station. Counsel said that “in fairness to Mr Carey”, he could be seen trying to calm things down while inside the station.
Under cross-examination, Carey put it to Ross that “I was treated like a terrorist in your care”. Ross denied this and told Carey he was detained under anti-terrorist legislation, and that he was treated the same as any other person in detention.
Asked why he or his colleagues had not investigated any of the “crimes” Carey had “reported” during his interview, under detention Ross replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. Carey clarified that this also included reporting crimes that would be committed in the future.
Judge Patricia Ryan adjourned finalisation to Friday morning and remanded Carey on continuing bail. Carey said he had a number of handwritten testimonials which he wanted to hand into court for consideration in sentencing.
Carey represented himself during the trial and had a number of supporters in court throughout. About 30 people were in court for the sentence hearing on Thursday morning, and Ryan had to repeatedly ask people to respect the formality of the court and not to shout or cheer.
The offences come with a maximum penalty of a fine of €10,000 or two years’ imprisonment.