A postmistress who was the victim of a tiger kidnapping, tied up and told she would be shot has sued An Post in the High Court.
Susan Lawlor from Malahide, who was the postmistress at Bayside Post Office, Dublin, was abducted from her home at gunpoint along with her daughter and an Italian student and driven around by her captors until the €80,000 contents of the post office safe were stolen in September 2014.
Ms Lawlor’s counsel, Richard Kean SC, instructed by solicitor Daniel O’Connell, told the court it was a truly extraordinary case where Ms Lawlor, when she heard armed robbers in her home, followed An Post protocol by phoning a hostage helpline which was meant to activate a covert response.
However, Mr Kean said as Ms Lawlor and the other two women were being driven around north Dublin in a car by the robbers, a security officer from An Post rang her back and the robbers “went utterly ballistic.”
Mr Kean said there was a massive escalation in violence and Ms Lawlor was told by one robber “I am going to shoot you in the f***ing head.”
She later thought they may be burned alive in the car as an accelerant was poured over it, and Mr Kean said she pulled out some of her hair and spit on the car floor so she would leave her DNA sample.
Mr Kean told the court that tiger kidnappings were rampant in the country at the time and Ms Lawlor, when she heard the gang in her home, rang the hostage hotline. He said she was "loyally following protocol" but he said her alleged "negligent treatment by An Post has caused her life-long stress and anxiety."
“Her life was in complete disorder afterwards. It ruined her life and it continues to cause her stress and fear,” Mr Kean said.
He said an expert on their side will say that Ms Lawlor’s condition is attributable to the tiger kidnapping and the phone call from a post worker which escalated aggression from the robbers.
He said Ms Lawlor will also say that An Post would not initially pay for a hotel for her and the other two women caught up in the kidnapping as they could not return home because it was a crime scene.
He said she will also say she felt under huge pressure and will allege she was "bullied to go back to work" two or three weeks after the event. Mr Kean said an investigation report by An Post exonerated the organisation for adhering to protocol, that the money was recovered and arrests made, but there was no mention of the phone call to Ms Lawlor.
Ms Lawlor (58) in her proceedings against An Post claims there was a failure to have regard to previous incidences of tiger kidnapping and an alleged failure to follow the appropriate An Post protocols.
It is further claimed there was an alleged failure to take any or any adequate precautions for the safety of Ms Lawlor, and she had allegedly been phoned on her mobile in order to ascertain whether the alarm that she had called in was valid.
All of the claims are denied. An Post contends that the postmistress was not an employee but an independent contractor.
Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds when she heard there are three similar actions against An Post arising out the same set of events said the four actions should be heard together. She adjourned Ms Lawlor’s case until that can be done.
