The mother and sister of John Carthy, who was shot dead following a siege at his home in Abbeylara, Co Longford, in April 2000, have settled their libel action against the Star. The High Court action was due to open yesterday but Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne was told by Hugh Mohan SC, for Marie Carthy and her mother, Rose Carthy, that the case had been settled on terms.
Those terms included the reading in court of an apology by Independent Star Ltd, trading as the Star, to the Carthys for an article published on November 1st, 2004. The statement said the article wrongly alleged that new evidence had been presented to the tribunal to the effect that John Carthy had been in dispute with his family over land which he had inherited from relatives, and that there was family friction as a result. The paper now accepted the allegations were false.
The newspaper apologised for the hurt and distress the article had caused the Carthy family.