Alligator and scorpions in garage at centre of ownership dispute

A couple have launched High Court proceedings in a dispute over the ownership of a garage where they keep exotic pets including scorpions, chameleons, and an alligator.

Alan O’Neill and his partner June Finnegan from Crann Nua, Edenderry Road, Portarlington, Co Laois, have sued Drumgoan Developments Limited, Noel Martin Sr and Darren Martin, who are alleged to be the firm’s owners and operators.

The couple claim that the defendants – who assert they own the garage adjacent to the their home of 19 years

– have threatened them and damaged the disputed property with a JCB.

The couple claim they purchased their home and, for an additional fee, the garage in 2005. They say the garage does not appear to have been properly transferred to them, due to an oversight by their former solicitor.

The garage, they accept, is on land registered to Drumgoan since last year.

They say the defendants have engaged in a “land grab” and have made financial demands of them and their neighbours, who also have garages in the estate.

In a sworn statement, Mr O’Neill said on February 21 he heard “a loud hammering on the wall of the garage, and found two men smashing the walls of the garage with power tools”.

Another man arrived in a JCB and said he intended to drive it through the wall, despite being informed that the plaintiffs had pets in the garage.

He said he was given a piece of paper that said the defendants owned the garage, and that the men were directed by a Darren Martin.

After the JCB drove through the garage, causing substantial damage to the property, Mr O’Neill called the gardaí.

The officers told the men to leave. However, he said they did not get involved any further as they allegedly claimed it was a civil matter.

The couple say that for 19 years they have used the garage to keep and breed pets, including chameleons, tarantulas and a female caiman alligator.

Mr O’Neill also said in his sworn statement that Noel Martin Sr sent his family a number of threats.

When Mr O’Neill’s solicitor sent a cease-and-desist letter to the defendants, Mr Martin Sr replied by stating the solicitor’s letter was “waffle”, and that the animals “belonged in a zoo”.

Seeking the injunction, Ruaidhrí Giblin BL, for the couple, instructed by solicitor Paul Kelly, said it is his client’s case that any purported claim the defendants are making over the garage “should be made through a solicitor”.

Counsel said his client is entitled to orders to protect the property and restrain the defendant and his agents.

The matter came before Mr Justice Mark Sanfey yesterday. On an ex parte basis (one side only represented), Judge Sanfey granted the couple a temporary injunction restraining the defendants from communicating with the plaintiffs.

The judge said that he was also prepared to grant the couple permission to serve short notice of the proceedings, where they seek other orders against the defendants. He said the communications from the defendants “did not put them in a good light”.