Judge dismisses case involving Laois cousins over lack of evidence

JUDGE Andrew Cody dismissed a case in Portlaoise District Court last week involving a man who accused his first cousin of criminally damaging his property. The pair are next door neighbours.

Terry Fee, 4 New Road, Portlaoise was charged with criminal damage to property belonging to his neighbour and first cousin Raymond Greene on 5 May last.

Evidence was given by a garda that on foot of a noise complaint by Mr Greene that she attended Mr Fee’s house that night and spoke to him. Later, she was again contacted by Mr Greene claiming that Mr Fee had thrown eggs and yogurt over the dividing back wall of their houses that hit his car, walls and yard.

She said Mr Greene got a quotation of €580 for cleaning up the mess.

Judge Cody asked: “How many eggs were involved? That’s a lot of money to wash a car.” The garda said that she is “aware of ongoing issues between the two parties. They’re next door neighbours”.

“They’re not only neighbours,” said Mr Fee’s solicitor Philip Meagher, they’re first cousins.” The garda said earlier that night she responded to the first complaint about Mr Fee making a lot of noise in his backyard.

Mr Meagher said that on the first visit of the gardaí, Mr Fee had been cleaning up his yard to make room for a delivery of a load of stone that he was expecting the next day.

When the garda responded to the second complaint, she said she viewed CCTV footage of Mr Greene’s back yard, but “did not see Mr Fee throwing anything over the wall”.

She said the wall diving the neighbours was approximately ten feet high.

Taking the stand, Mr Greene said there had been a lot of noise coming from his neighbour’s back yard, “like steel being thrown into the back of a trailer. I rang the guards and they talked to him (Mr Fee). Shortly after, I got a CCTV alert on my mobile phone. I went to my bathroom window and witnessed Terry Fee lobbing eggs over the wall. I seen him with my own eyes. The CCTV camera picked up the eggs coming over the wall and into the yard. A good few of them hit the wall and blanket on the car. I’ve had to cover my car’s side mirror and windscreen with thick blankets because of the same thing over the years. I got a quote that it would cost €580 to clean it all up.” Mr Meagher said: “I suggest you could wash a fleet of cars or taxis for that amount.” The solicitor said that Mr Greene’s three dogs attacked a turkey that Mr Fee had in his yard and that the dogs have since been put down and “there’s been nothing but hassle since then”.

He said Mr Greene has also made complaints against Mr Fee to Tusla, the gardaí and to Laois County Council and all found that “there was no basis whatsoever to any of those complaints. Indeed, Tusla described the complaints as malicious”.

Questioning Mr Greene, Mr Meagher said: “This simply did not happen. You were upset with Mr Fee and you manufactured up this incident. A number of other people, not Mr Fee, have confirmed that eggs have been thrown at your property before from another (derelict) house.” Mr Greene disputed this.

He said: “I never had any property damaged from that (derelict) house. The only time I rang the gardaí about that house was when it was set on fire.” Asked by Judge Cody to explain exactly how he saw Mr Fee throwing the eggs across the wall, Mr Greene said: “I was standing on top of my bath in the bathroom. I opened the window by about two feet and had a clear view of him.” Playing Mr Green’s CCTV footage of the alleged incident in court, Judge Cody asked how many eggs were estimated to have been thrown on the occasion?

Mr Greene replied: “About 20 or 30. I have no reason to lie.” Taking the stand, Mr Fee said that after gardaí had been with him on the first occasion, he took a shower and went to bed.

Inspector Ruth Wall put it to Mr Fee that the CCTV footage shown in court “shows something coming across the wall” and asked: “What was that?” He replied: “I don’t know what it was. Eggs have been thrown at my house and at other neighbours’ houses as well. The (derelict) house across the road from us … a lot of people go in and out of that taking drugs. It wasn’t my eggs.” Corroborating her husband’s version of events, Ms Fee said that after gardaí called the first time, her husband showered and went to bed. She said they wanted to go to bed early because they were expecting a stone delivery and were going on holiday the following day.

Solicitor Mr Meagher pointed out that there was an obvious conflict of evidence in the case and that “certain elements of Mr Greene’s evidence, the court must have issues with. The state has not reached the threshold to prove their case”.

“It’s one word against another,” said Inspector Wall. “There were ongoing issues at the time. Gardaí did observe eggs and yogurt on Mr Greene’s property. The CCTV coverage showed something coming over the wall from Mr Fee’s house.” Judge Cody said: “By his own admission, Mr Greene got on top of his bath and said he saw Mr Fee. It’s extraordinary that somebody with a mobile phone in their hand at the time didn’t press record on it, if that is what he saw. I don’t think anybody could throw yogurt over a ten-foot wall at a car that was 15 feet away. And finally, given the history between the parties, I take with some caution what Mr Greene said.” He went on to strike out the charge against Mr Fee.