Bree farmer ordered to pay up debt or face three months in jail

€46,000 OWED TO PENSIONER AS JUDGE ‘CANNOT BELIEVE A WORD’ OF DEFENDANT’S EVIDENCE

Failure to pay up the €46,000 owed to one of his customers earned concrete contractor John Kehoe of Coolteigue, Bree a three-month jail sentence recorded by Judge Gerard Haughton.

Eighty-year-old Greg Ryan of Oak Drive, Garry-william, Crossabeg came to the District Court sitting in Gorey looking for money due to him on foot of a court order granted after the laying of a driveway at his home was ‘ botched’, as the creditor put it.

The judge learned that proceedings dated back to 2011 when Ryan, who attended court with his wife, was awarded the decree for the €46,000.

Retired accountant Ryan acknowledged that €1,500 had been paid off this sum but calculated that the debtor was €28,500 behind with the instalment payments due under the terms of an order subsequently laid down by the court.

Evidence was heard that at one stage a bench warrant was issued when Kehoe failed to turn up in court and that he was supposed to be paying €1,000 per month off the amount due.

Ryan said that three properties were registered in the other man’s name and he also believed that there was money in the UK which could be used to meet the debt.

A statement of means and accounts were provided which showed Kehoe to be a part-time farmer.

John Kehoe took the witness stand to make an offer of €200 per month.

He acknowledged renting 50 to 60 acres of land from his mother to farm cattle at a rate of €5,000 per year.

He explained that one of the three properties mentioned by the creditor was the family home.

The other two comprised an industrial site which was never built on and thee acres of forestry – both seized by a bank.

He acknowledged having an investment in the UK but said it had not yet paid out as apartments had yet to be sold.

Judge Gerard Haughton was not impressed, noting letters from a British firm of accountants which had been supplied to the court.

They reported that funds were now in Santander Bank, yet the judge noted that the UK assets did not show up in the accounts.

‘I cannot believe a word he says,’ concluded the judge of John Kehoe. ‘He has been paying ducks and drakes with the court and with Mister Ryan.’

He committed the debtor to prison for three months but put a stay of one month on his order, adding legal costs to the bill facing Kehoe.