Pillar knocked and removed from entrance as dispute between Limerick neighbours escalates

A RATHKEALE man who knocked his neighbour’s pillar and then moved it on to his family’s land was ordered to pay €900 for the cost of re-instating the pillar.

Making his order against Shane Moran of Ardlaman, Rathkeale Judge John King said: “He has stepped outside the boundary of what is reasonable and legal.”

If Mr Moran pays the compensation by June 11, the judge continued, he would then order a conditional discharge under the Probation Act on a three year bond.

The conditions attached would be that he would not interfere in any way with the injured party, or his property and that he be of good behaviour.

Earlier, Mr Moran had pleaded to the charge of criminal damage and theft.

Garda Elaine Freemantle told the court that last December 18 she received a call from a man who said he woke at 5am and saw a digger had knocked a pillar at the entrance to his property. The digger was next door on Moran’s property.

On December 28, the garda said, the pillar was removed and brought on to the Moran property. Shane Moran admitted he had damaged the pillar, Garda Feemantle said. “He said it was a danger to people,” she told the court.

The injured party, she added, “just wants peace”.

Pleading for his client, solicitor John Lynch said there had been a long running dispute between the man and his client’s father about the laneway situated in the corner of the Moran property and used to access their farm.

The boundary between the properties was in the middle of the laneway, the court heard. The width of the laneway was such that some trucks had difficulty getting access, Mr Lynch explained.

His client, he said, had got sucked into the dispute. Over the years, the pillar was disintegrating, Mr Lynch continued, and his client used his tractor “to take down the pillar before it fell down.”

“Did he write to (the injured party)” asked Judge John King before continuing: “He didn’t go through any formal process. He just took it into his own hands.”

The injured party told the judge the pillar was attached to a wall leading to a gate into his property where he had a business and sheds.

“I am there 50 years. The trucks are going in for the last four years,” he said. But, he went on: “He (Moran) doesn’t want to interfere with his own property.

“If the trucks had a difficulty accessing, “Judge King said,” why doesn’t he (Moran) widen on his own side. Why doesn’t he do that? He owns the property opposite the pillar.”

“That would require planning permission,” Mr Lynch said.

“He didn’t look for planning permission,” Judge King responded. “He decided to knock the pillar. Isn’t that what he did? He is so far out of order, I don’t think he has any real realisation that what he did was wrong.”

The injured party said the cost of reinstating the pillar was €900. Garda Freemantle confirmed that Mr Moran did offer to pay compensation on January 20 but no figure had been given by the injured party. “He didn’t want the value of the pillar because he thought then there would be some ownership of the pillar,” the garda said.

“It could have been handled differently but for the history,” Mr Lynch said.

“It should have been handled in a different way, anyway,” the judge responded. “He is taking a conviction here without any shadow of a doubt.”

The judge adjourned the case to June 11 for finalisation of his conditional probation order. In the event of non-compliance there would be a court order of two months, suspended.

“He can take a probation bond or a suspended sentence,” the judge warned.