Charges dismissed in land feud between Louisburgh neighbours

Charges dismissed in land feud between Louisburgh neighbours


A FUED between two neighbouring farmers in Louisburgh over land boundaries resulted in criminal prosecutions being brought against each of them.
Michael Mulvey with an address at 20 The Grove, Lower Charles Street, Castlebar, but a native of Louisburgh, appeared before Westport District Court last week charged with assaulting Lynda Brown on March 27, 2012 at Callacoon, Louisburgh and also with criminal damage after he was accused of breaking her camera.
Chris Brown of Callacoon, Louisburgh, husband of Lynda Brown was also charged with threatening and insulting behaviour on the same day and location of the first incident. Mr Mulvey had claimed that Mr Brown had assaulted him after the first alleged altercation but he was not charged with assault.
The two charges against Mr Mulvey were eventually dismissed by Judge Mary Devins while the charge against Mr Brown was withdrawn by the State before evidence was heard.

Long running dispute
The neighbours had been involved in a long running dispute over boundary fences which was eventually resolved in the High Court in March 2011 where they gave an undertaking to stay away from each other.
The incident which allegedly occurred on March 27 arose at approximately 7pm when Mrs Brown took pictures of a neighbouring field and boundary fence where Mr Mulvey was cutting rushes with his tractor. Mrs Brown told the court that the field belonged to a third party and their animals used to graze the grass before a fence was erected by Mr Mulvey.
In court, Mrs Brown claimed that they wrote to the owner who lives in Dublin informing her the fence was erected and claimed she asked them to keep an eye on it. Mrs Brown said when they noticed Mr Mulvey in the field she decided to go to the boundary fence and take a photo of the scene.
She said the tractor came towards her and Mr Mulvey jumped out and came towards her and started to pull at the camera. She said he grabbed the camera and broke the lens throwing it into undergrowth.
Mrs Brown claimed that Mr Mulvey grabbed her by the arms and started to pull her into the field. She said he continued to pull her into the field and had a hold of the camera. She claimed she tried to bite him but couldn’t and eventually started to scream for help.
When her friend Patricia Kilcoyne came into the field, she said he let go of her and the gardaí were eventually called. Mrs Brown said she was very upset by what happened and had marks on her arms.
Mr Mulvey disputed the version of Mrs Brown’s events and in a statement to gardaí he claimed Mrs Brown entered onto the field he was working in. He claimed he asked her what authority she had to enter the field and feared for her safety as he was operating dangerous machinery.
He claimed she became aggressive towards him and swung the camera hitting it off the front wheel of the tractor breaking off the front of the lens. He said he noticed she was ‘highly intoxicated from vodka or something’ and told her to cop on and go home which he claimed she did.
He told gardaí he carried on his work until five minutes later when another lady arrived and Mr Brown arrived on his bicycle.
In a later statement he claimed he feared for his safety when Mr Brown arrived as he claimed he was under the influence of alcohol. He claimed Mr Brown was using his wife to get at him in relation to the previous land dispute and was afraid for his family to return to the village.

'All lies'
Mrs Brown denied that she entered onto the field until she was pulled into it by Mr Mulvey and also denied the claim she was drinking saying it was ‘all lies’. She also denied he told her to leave the field as she was trespassing.
Mr Keith O’Grady, BL for Mr Mulvey produced a letter from the solicitor of the owner of the land where his client was working on the day which stated they had employed him to erect the fence and act in a caretaking capacity.
When it was put to Mrs Brown that in hindsight it was a mistake to take it upon herself to take photos of Mr Mulvey and an error of bad judgement, she replied they had issues between them and they ‘had to take care of ourselves’.
Mr O’Grady stated the fence was there for two years and accused her of wanting to get involved in a row to get his client into trouble, which she denied. Mr O’Grady also claimed that in her statement to gardaí she said she went to take photos of Mr Mulvey while in her evidence in court she said was taking photos of the boundary fence. He accused her of changing her story to suit herself.
Garda Michael Moore who investigated the incident said when he arrived at the scene he found the lens in the ditch and retained it as evidence. He said Mrs Brown was very distressed and had scratches on her right forearm and cuts on her finger.
Mr O’Grady said his client spent two days in hospital after the alleged assaulted by Mr Brown and asked Garda Moore why was Mr Brown only charged with a public order offence. Garda Moore said that on foot of an investigation it was directed that Mr Brown be prosecuted on a public order charge.
Superintendent Aiden Foley said Mr Mulvey could not identify who he claimed assaulted him and it was only Mr Mulvey’s opinion that it was Mr Brown.
When asked what direction Garda Moore had recommended, Supt Foley stated he had recommended it be best dealt with on an adult caution, which led Judge Mary Devins to comment that nobody expected that answer.
The value of the damaged camera was priced at €750.29 which was Mrs Brown’s valuation and it had not been independently verified.

Sought direction
Mr O’Grady sought a direction from Judge Devins for a dismissal of both charges against his client. He claimed that Mrs Brown’s evidence was not accurate and was contradictory and claimed the prosecution had been ‘cobbled together’ and was dangerous. He said if it was before the Circuit Court it would be unsafe to present before a jury.
Judge Devins said it was the prosecution’s job to present all the relevant evidence and it was the prosecution’s job to get an independent valuation of the damage to the camera and no evidence was shown.
In relation to Mrs Brown’s evidence, she said it was not just dented but was ‘torn asunder’ and she dismissed both charges against Mr Mulvey.
Commenting on the case, Judge Devins said that if she was the Minister of Justice, she would make Garda Moore ‘the Commissioner tomorrow’ as he had applied the correct attitude in the case when recommending an adult caution.
Following her decision, Mr Donnacha O’Connor, solicitor for Mr Brown sought for his client’s charge to also be dismissed in the interest of fairness. Judge Devins said she could not as she was not the prosecutor but agreed to rise for ten minutes. When she returned, Supt Foley said he was applying to withdraw the summons.