A self-employed contractor was the victim of "outrageous" slanderous comments by businessman Joseph Murphy, a director of Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering Ltd, in a busy Co Leitrim pub after a funeral, it was claimed before the High Court yesterday.
Michael McManus, from Mulberry Park, Ballinode, Sligo, has sued Mr Murphy, who has a London address, over alleged comments which it is claimed meant Mr McManus had committed arson.
Opening the case yesterday, Colm Smyth SC, for Mr McManus, said the slander arose from comments allegedly made by Mr Murphy to Mr McManus's brother on June 23rd, 2001, in a busy pub - Flynns in Arigna, the "nerve centre" of the Arigna community.
Earlier, on August 15th, 2000, there was a fire at the Arigna quarry which employed 30 people, counsel said. Two excavators were destroyed in what was "a major event" for the community and was "arson". A person convicted of arson would be liable for life imprisonment, he added.
Mr McManus had worked with Hillstreet Quarries in Arigna from May 1996 until April 1999 as a heavy machinery driver, Mr Smyth said. He later provided contract services to the quarries from April to August 2000.
On June 23rd, 2001, people had gathered at Flynns pub in Arigna after the funeral of a local person, Mr Smyth said.
He said Michael McManus's brother Eoin was in the pub with his wife Martina when Joseph Murphy approached them and asked Eoin McManus who he was.
Counsel said Mr Murphy had then said to Eoin: "You're Eoin and Eoin, would you accept an apology from me because I know you and your missus had nothing to do with that fire but I know who did".
He said that, when Mr McManus asked who was being referred to, Mr Murphy had said: "It was your brother Michael, the buck in Sligo, and I know where he lives and I'll catch up with him."
It is also claimed that there was another conversation between Eoin McManus and Mr Murphy outside the men's toilets in the pub in which, it is alleged, Mr Murphy had said: "Well, we know it was Michael did it".
In evidence, Eoin McManus said that during the alleged exchange in the pub between him and Mr Murphy, people were listening and watching, wondering what was going to happen next.
Also in evidence, Martina McManus said she and her husband had been arrested at one stage in relation to the fire and none of them had anything to do with it. She said Denis Flynn, Mr Murphy's first cousin and the owner of Hillstreet Quarries, had later apologised to her about being arrested.
The case continues today.