THREE people have been acquitted of criminal damage charges to Israeli-made Sodastream products at a West Belfast supermarket.
Martin Rafferty (58) of Carnmoney Road in Newtownabbey and Eoin Davey (57) and Yasmary Perdomo (50), both of Springfield Road in West Belfast, were jointly charged over an alleged incident in Sainsbury's in the Kennedy Centre in July 2024.
They were alleged to have placed BDS stickers on the goods.
SodaStream is an Israeli company, now a PepsiCo subsidiary, known for its home carbonation devices, with its headquarters in Kfar Saba, Israel.
It has faced significant controversy and boycott campaigns due to its former manufacturing presence in the illegal West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim before relocating operations to Israel's Negev desert.
Rafferty, Davey and Perdomo attended Belfast Magistrates' Court on Monday for a scheduled trial hearing. However, the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) offered no evidence against the three defendants. They were formally acquitted after District Judge Anne Marshall dismissed the case.
Speaking outside court, solicitor Aiden Carlin claimed the prosecution had "made every attempt to secure a conviction – even though there was literally no evidence of any alleged damage". He also said the decision came after a total of 13 separate hearings.
"It is an injustice that our clients had to come to court multiple times since last June before the PPS offered 'no evidence' this morning," he added.
"We urge the PPS to withdraw similar cases which have been brought against other BDS activists."
In a statement, the PPS said it has "a general duty to keep prosecution decisions under consideration and take into account any change in circumstances that occurs as the case proceeds".
"Where new information or evidence becomes available it is considered along with all the existing information and evidence in the case and the test for prosecution applied, as happened in this case.
"Following a change in the evidence available in this case, it was determined that the test for prosecution was no longer met."
