This article is from page 18 of the 2008-04-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
TWO men who decided to buy a house between them finished up in court, with one accusing the other of eeu
But the case against Warren Tully (27) of 8 Mountshannon, Labash- eeda, was stopped when the alleged victim of the fraud, James O’Connor, from Ballybeg, Clarecastle took the stand.
Stephen Coughlan BL, prosecuting for the State had earlier told the jury that Mr O’Connor had been compen- sated for an industrial accident.
He and the accused wanted to buy a house together and O’Connor trans- ferred €70,000 and, later, €28,000 into an account which Tully had set
up for that purpose.
“Matters came unstuck and Mr O’Connor became dissatisfied and said he wanted his money back,” Mr Coughlan told the Ennis Circuit Solitan
He told the jury that €10,000 was returned and further sums of €25,000 and €10,000 were handed over after the gardai became involved.
Mr Tully denied charges of theft of €70,000 and deception in relation to the €28,000.
When Mr O’Connor took the stand to give evidence, he said that he wanted “to drop the charges. I’m just sick of it at this stage”.
With no evidence from the State to offer, Judge Rory O’Donnabhain struck the case out.