Cahersiveen man ‘lied’ in K Club case

A CAHERSIVEEN man, who was accused of lying about evidence in court, could face a substantial legal bill after the High Court last week dismissed an action by him over allegations that he was threatened by an employee of the K Club.

Peter Curran (51), a former manager of the K Club, claimed he had been threatened at Punchestown Races seven years ago. Mr Curran had sued his former employer, the K Club Ltd, Straffan, Co Kildare; Dr Michael Smurfit; and K Club resort superintendent Gerry Byrne.

All three defendants had denied all claims. Mr Curran had claimed that, on May 7, 2011, his way was blocked in the toilets at Punchestown Races and Mr Byrne allegedly 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”.

Dismissing the action against all defendants, Mr Justice Anthony Barr was satisfied Mr Byrne did not have any interaction or conversation with Mr Curran on May 7, 2011 .

He found Mr Curran had “lied continually” in relation to what he told various parties and also in his evidence to the court.

Mr Justice Barr said the court had to have regard to the fact that Mr Curran is capable of “engaging in deceptive and manipulative conduct to achieve his desired goals”.

Mr Justice Barr also found Mr Curran had sent five bogus emails which he sent to entice the K Club superintendent, Gerry Byrne, whom he alleged made the threat, into making an “inculpatory statement” which would also incriminate the K Club owner and millionaire businessman Michael Smurfit. As part of this, Justice Barr said that he planted a story with the gardaí about his iPad.

This, the judge said, would have ended the litigation and resulted in a “windfall of damages” to Mr Curran. Mr Justice Barr said there was a “lack of consistency” in Mr Curran’s accounts of the alleged incident at Punchestown.

By February 2012, Mr Curran’s allegation had changed to include an assertion that Mr Byrne had said he was bringing a message from Mr Smurfit adding this “small but significant detail, Mr Curran had put himself in a position to mount a claim for damages against Mr Smurfit.

Mr Curran had not furnished any convincing evidence why that significant detail was only included after September 2011 and before February 2012, the court heard.