This article is from page 11 of the 2008-07-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
A COUPLE and their two young children have been forced out of their Lahinch home because they could no longer put up with abuse from their 68-year-old ‘neighbour from hell’.
As their next-door-neighbour was jailed for six months for harassment of the couple, he was ordered by a judge to “end the bullying”.
The revelations of the abuse emerged in a case before Lisdoon- varna District Court last week, where both husband and wife spoke of how they had to leave their home and put it up for sale.
Robert and Eleanor Kennedy gave evidence in the case of Michael Mc- Namara, of Moymore North, Lahi- nch, who was charged with harassing them, between May 2005 and Janu- ary 2006.
In imposing sentence on McNama- ra, Judge Joseph Mangan said, “It’s time to end the bullying.”
Robert Kennedy, a businessman in Lahinch, told the court that he and his wife Eleanor and their two young sons – then aged five and two – moved into their new home at Moymore North, Lahinch, in January 2005.
He said that prior to buying the house, the previous residents had claimed to him that the next-door- neighbour had abused them. How- ever, he and his wife loved the house and the area and had never met Mr McNamara so they decided to go ahead with the purchase.
He said that everything was fine for the first three months, but when a friend of his went to put a fence around the house, Mr McNamara – a retired builder who hailed from Limerick – became aggressive to- WeNnelaveeee
Mr Kennedy said that Mr McNa- mara later shouted “abuse and ob- ee NLS Coes Ob Nee e
“He called me a w***er, a f***er, a black b***ard and that I should f*** off back to where I came from,” he ALOR
He said this behaviour prompted him to be concerned for the safety of his two young boys.
“My wife feared for her safety. We had to move house. We couldn’t take any more of the shouting, the abuse,’ he said.
“I had a strong fear for the safety of my children. There were cameras pointing over to our yard where our
children were playing,’ he said.
Mr Kennedy denied a suggestion by McNamara’s solicitor Charles Foley that he had moved his client’s fence without his permission.
He also denied that he had hit Mc- Namara. “I didn’t touch Mr McNa- mara,’ he said.
Mr Foley said “the reason the bad blood arose between the parties was because Mr Kennedy erected a high fence.”
Robert’s wife Eleanor told the court she could not believe their neighbour could be so aggressive.
She said McNamara started putting newspapers up on his windows and the only time the abuse would let up was when he was sick.
She said they moved away from the house and after they put it up for sale, McNamara painted his gable wall five or six different colours.
Referring to the fence, she said, ‘People put those fences up in Moy- more. The fence is fine. People actu- ally want privacy nowadays.”
Retired Sergeant Michael Gallery, who investigated the matter, said that in an interview with gardai, McNa- mara said the allegations were all lies. He denied shouting obscenities
and spitting at Robert Kennedy and denied staring at Eleanor.
‘I did not harass her or her husband in any way,” he told gardai.
He was asked, “Did you hear of the term ‘neighbour from hell’?” and re- plied, “If they were telling the truth, I’d say I was the neighbour from hell.”
Judge Joseph Mangan convicted McNamara. Inspector Michael Gal- lagher, prosecuting, said, “This is an awful situation the injured parties found themselves in. You wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
He said the Kennedys would ap- preciate if McNamara cleaned up his house, so that they would be in a po- sition to sell their home. “They want some finality to this,” he said.
Mr Foley told the court that his cli- ent was in poor health and suffers from heart disease.
‘He has no previous convictions in this entire life. He is a single man. What happened was he got upset at the high fence,” he said.
He said his client would undertake to clean up his house.
In addition to the jail term, McNa- mara was fined €3,000. A bond was fixed in the event of an appeal.