SMURFIT ‘TOO UNWELL TO APPEAR IN COURT’

K Club owner recovering from surgery

MICHAEL Smurfit cannot attend the Four Courts to defend claims that he ordered a former K Club manager to be threatened as he is in hospital in Monaco following hip surgery, the High Court has heard.

The multi-millionaire owner of the five-star K Club resort in Straffan, Co. Kildare, who lives in Monaco, was served on Wednesday with a subpoena to give evidence in the case of his former employee, Peter Curran.

Mr Curran claims he was threatened at a race meeting at Punchestown, following statements that he had made about the way the hotel was run – including an allegation made by him that apartments were rented to call girls and paid for by the K Club.

Greenkeeper and resort superintendent Gerry Byrne is alleged to have said: ‘Dr Smurfit has not forgotten the statements about him and the call girls. Dr Smurfit knows where to find you and this is not over.’

Yesterday, Dr Smurfit’s counsel, Rossa Fanning SC, told the court that his client was in hospital in Monte Carlo, in Monaco, and would not be attending.

He explained that Dr Smurfit had undergone hip surgery in recent days, and had suffered complications and a fractured femur, or thighbone.

This led him to have a second operation on his hip this week, and he was currently still in hospital, Mr Fanning said.

Judge Anthony Barr said the court would be hearing the case for four days next week, and that it would most likely resume in October, following the annual legal break. He suggested Dr Smurfit could have recovered by then to attend court.

Mr Curran, of Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry, has sued Mr Byrne, Dr Smurfit and the K Club for damages for emotional hurt and suffering, and has said he was a ‘ruined man’ after the threat.

The court has heard he alleged he was unfairly dismissed from the K Club in 1998 after raising concerns about irregularities, including the call girls. A High Court action relating to his dismissal was settled in 2008.

Evidence continued in the current case from Raymond Mooney, another former K Club manager who had worked with Mr Curran at the resort.

He confirmed he had invited Mr Curran to the marquee he was running at Punchestown races in May 2011, as a friend.

He agreed Mr Curran had seemed to be in good form until shortly after lunch, and that the pair had gone for a walk around the racecourse chatting.

But he said Mr Curran disappeared for around 90 minutes after going to the toilets – the place where Mr Curran alleges Mr Byrne threatened him. When Mr Curran returned, he looked red faced and ‘teary eyed’, and ‘as if he was going to be sick’.

He said he asked his friend if he was okay, and received no answer. He said he thought this was strange, but was too busy with guests to enquire further.

The case continues.