A company director, Bernard Rocca, has been ordered to pay damages to a former employee whom he assaulted after sacking him. Judge Michael White told Rocca, a director of Tilebusters Ltd, Tallaght, Co Dublin, he should have contacted the Garda when he wished to have a storeman, Mr Shane Tinkler, of Coolmine, Rathcoole, Co Dublin, removed from the premises. "He was not entitled to use physical force to remove him," the judge said in the Circuit Civil Court.
Mr Tinkler claimed Mr Rocca had hit him with a roll of tape and had then punched him on the chest and back as he told him to get out. Rocca denied the allegations but said he had "shouldered" Mr Tinkler out of the office.
Judge White awarded Mr Tinkler £1,500 damages with district court costs.