Longford man accused of trespass charge sees case dismissed

Defendant James Heffernan (27) of 24 Silver Birches, Stonepark, Longford contested the charge that on Saturday April 2, 2022 at 50 Silver Birches, Stonepark he entered the home of Rebecca Higghins as a trespasser to commit an arrestable offence.

The State's case was based on the evidence of three witnesses. They were the homeowner, Ms Higgins, a friend she asked to look after her dogs while she was away on holidays and the investigating Garda.

The first to take the stand was the house sitter, who requested not to be named in the court report. He described going into the house on the April morning and while upstairs to let the dogs out he heard a noise downstairs.

When he went down to investigate he saw two men, identified as Sean Munnelly and James Heffernan, in the house.

“I got a shock,” the witness recalled, “ I said 'what is going on'. Then I asked them to leave, to get out of the house.”

The witness said the men had a dog with them. They walked out the open back door, through the back garden. He added: “James turned around and said, “sorry man”, then walked off.”

The witness told the court he had arranged to go to the airport to pick up the owner of the house in her car. Before he left he had a look around the house, noticing cigarette ash in the living room and a cigarette butt in the toilet, but nothing else.

When he went to get the keys from a drawer they were missing. The witness located a spare key for the car and then drove to the airport.

In her evidence homeowner Rebecca Higgins recalled returning to Ireland after a week long holiday in New York. Her friend, who was looking after her dogs while she was away, picked her up at the airport in her car.

She noted that “the car looked wrecked”. Ms Higgins said: “There were fags in the ashtray and on the ground. There was a sticky residue on the dashboard, the seat was pulled forward right up to the dash and there was a phone charger cable plugged in the USB port that was not mine.”

Her friend told her about the encounter that morning. The witness said she knew Sean Munnally “from around” and was a friend of James Heffernan before the incident.

“I gave no one permission to be in the house. When I got home there was a bit of a mess. I am meticulous about the way I keep my home. The remote control was moved, there was fag ash on coffee table and in sitting room. The lock was taken off the back gate to the garden and a side window was unlocked and open with footprints on the worktop inside.”

Ms Higgins went to Longford Garda station and reported the missing keys. She then drove back to Silver Birches and pulled up at the house James Heffernan lived in. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She tried to open the door, but it would not open. Her friend then went to the door.

He also tried to open the door and called into the house. He heard someone coming down and then a hand came out through the letterbox and threw the key on the ground.

The witness told prosecuting Inspector David Jordan that James Heffernan knew she was on holiday at the time. She said there was an incident a couple of months before this when a front door key with a blue cover on it went missing after James Heffernan had visited, Ms Higgins sent him a text asking if he had the key but he denied taking it.

The third prosecution witness Garda Rachael Duggan outlined details of her investigation into the incident.

Garda Duggan obtained a search warrant for 24 Silver Birches where Mr Heffernan was living at the time. A team of Gardaí entered the premises and found James Heffernan and Sean Munnally in an upstairs back bedroom.

The search yielded a cammo coloured rucksack with defendant's name written on it in permanent marker. Although the bag appeared empty, the officers found a house key with a blue cover similar to the one described by Ms Higgins.

The defendant was arrested and interviewed, but made no admissions. Solicitor for Mr Heffernan, Padraic Quinn, applied to Judge Bernadette Owens for directions in respect to the charges before the court.

He said that the core of his application was that the prosecution's case was that the defendant had trespassed “to commit an arrestable offence” on a specific date.

The legal representative said no evidence was given to the court that his client had committed an arrestable offence on the day outlined on the charge sheet. He said this conclusion could only be drawn “based on opinion and assumption”.

Inspector Jordan pointed out that the home owner's keys were in the drawer before the men were in the house.

The inspector pointed out that when Ms Higgins and her friend went to Mr Heffernan's house the keys were passed out through the letterbox.

The prosecutor also highlighted that James Heffernan apologised to the house sitter for being in the house.

Having reviewed the evidence and the submissions by both prosecution and defence Judge Owens said whereas the State met the threshold to assume there was a trespass, it was not clear that on the date of the offence set out on the charge sheet the theft of the keys had taken place.

The judge said because of this she had no choice but to dismiss the charge before the court.