A convicted fraudster’s €60,000 damages claim against the State, after he had been slashed across his face in Mountjoy Prison by Christopher Coakley, cousin of Kinahan cartel murder victim Derek Coakley Hutch, was thrown out by Judge Jennifer O’Brien in the Circuit Civil Court today.
Judge O’Brien, dismissing the claim of car sales scammer Eamon Shield, Esker Pines, Lucan, Co Dublin, revealed that following his trial he had written to the judge as well as having made an attempt to approach the judge’s personal assistant with certain communications.
“I want to clarify that I don’t take information from any party in any case outside of the court,” Judge O’Brien told barrister David Boughton, who appeared for The Irish Prison Service and the Minister for Justice in defeating Shield’s personal injury claim.
She said all matters must be done in public after stating she had received a letter on Wednesday from Shield.
“When I realised the content I put it back in its envelope and I now return that letter unread to the plaintiff in court,” she said. Judge O’Brien, reiterating that nothing of the contents of the letter had been read by her, said that she only considered representations made in her courtroom and there would never be any other third parties involved in her work.
Shield had not turned up to hear Judge O’Brien’s rejection of his claim and the letter was returned to his solicitor, who informed the court that Shield’s legal team were totally unaware of the attempted approaches to the judge.
Christopher Coakley was identified, during the trial of Shield’s claim, as the man who bladed the convicted scammer eight years ago in Mountjoy Prison after Shield had been seen talking with a garda outside the prison kitchen in which he worked. He claimed to have been tipped off about a threat against him and having reported the danger he was in to the prison authorities, evidence Judge O’Brien rejected in her judgment.
Mr Boughton, who appeared with John Durcan of Good Murray Smith Solicitors, had told the court the prison authorities had no knowledge of any threat against Shield at the time nor had they any record or knowledge of a complaint by him having allegedly made to a senior prison officer before the attack.
Shield had claimed he had been suddenly attacked from behind in a stairwell by Coakley using a weapon fashioned out of double razor blades. He had been left with parallel deep lacerations across his right cheek which required 30 stitches.
Coakley is currently serving an eight-year jail sentence following an attack on a doctor who had been approached for money by Coakley in the dockland area near his home.
Shield had been found guilty of 25 counts of theft and deception following a two-week trial in the Circuit Criminal Court in which a mature student, who lost €3,000 to Shield posing as a legitimate businessman, had told the court of being tricked and duped out of his hard-earned cash.
The conman stole €178,000 from 12 people as part of the scheme for which he had been jailed for four years.
Judge O’Brien, dismissing Shield’s claim and awarding costs against him, said he had told the court it was his first time in prison when, it transpired, it had been his second jail term. His credibility had been seriously damaged. She said the attack had been unprovoked and without warning and, given the speed with which it had occurred, it was probable the incident could not have been prevented.
