A Kerry father and son charged with throwing a student living in their property out on to the street in his underpants have had the case against them dismissed.
Judge Marian O’Leary told Cork District Court on Tuesday that Daniel and Donal Lynch were entitled to use “proportionate force” against trespassers who had not paid any rent.
Daniel and Donal Lynch, aged 62 and 32 respectively, of Moanmore, Castleisland, Co Kerry, were previously charged in relation to alleged offences which occurred at 4 Nursery View, Glasheen Road, Cork city, on August 11th, 2022.
Both men faced identical charges of assaulting a male and female student, attempting to commit theft of a phone and trespassing to commit theft at 4 Nursery View. The landlords had vehemently denied the charges.
At a previous hearing of Cork District Court, defence solicitor Joe Cuddigan claimed the students staying in the house were “milking the situation and freeloading.”
However, the students had insisted they were willing to pay and that there had been a misunderstanding.
One of the students, George Pendle, told the court he was pulled out of bed by the men by his ankles while wearing nothing but his “jocks.”
However, it was alleged by the defence that Mr Pendle kicked Daniel Lynch (62) in the chest which led the father and son to physically eject him from the house.
On Tuesday at Cork District Court, all charges were dismissed against both men by Judge Marian O’Leary.
Defence solicitor Joe Cuddigan said there had been widespread publicity about the case since the allegations were first made against his clients.
Mr Cuddigan thanked Judge O’Leary for the length of time the court had given the case. He said his clients had suffered reputational damage arising out of the case.
“They were subjected to quite an amount of insidious comment when the matter came before the court initially, particularly in the media in Kerry.
“And ‘landlord’ in Kerry still has certain connotations in the post-1847 era and my clients suffered because of that.”
Judge O’Leary said she wanted to make it quite clear that it was a “criminal prosecution” and not a “landlord and tenant” issue.
'Proportionate force'
She said a person is allowed to use “proportionate force” to remove trespassers from their property.
Regarding the five people living at the house during the relevant time of June, July and part of August 2022, the judge said only one of them ever had a lease and that expired in May last year.
“She [the student] did not pay any rent during the June to August period.”
“Of the four people who were residing in the property they entered the property without consent and did not pay any rent.
“They were trespassers on the property and the owners were entitled to enter the property and ask the trespasser to vacate immediately.”
Judge O’Leary said that having regard to evidence before the court there was no implied lease or letting agreement in place.
She said the State, in their prosecution of the landlord and his son, had not reached the threshold to prove they were trespassers.
The judge said that having heard the evidence from the students and the memo of the garda interview with the father and son, she had a “reasonable doubt” that assaults had taken place.
Judge O’Leary dismissed the remaining assault charges.
