THERE WAS an outburst of cheering and applause in a Monaghan court yesterday after a building contractor was found not guilty of taking machinery from a building site.
Colin Callan (32), Reaghstown, Ardee, Co Louth, was charged with taking machinery from a site, after he claimed he was owed €83,000 in respect of work done on the building of a house and garage.
Mr Callan faced three charges, at the Circuit Criminal Court sitting in Monaghan, of taking a JCB digger valued at €9,000, a lorry valued at €5,000 and other items of property belonging to Christopher John Houlihan, Lancashire, England, on July 28th, 2009, after, it was alleged, he was unpaid for work done.
Mr Houlihan told the court that Mr Callan was engaged by him to undertake building work on a site at Inniskeen, Co Monaghan. He said the plans were for a five-bedroom two-storey dwelling with a garage, to be built for €150,000.
He claimed he had brought the digger, lorry and other machinery from England for work on the site.
He told the court that after some weeks, when initial works were carried out and three garage walls built, he received an invoice to his address in England from Mr Callan seeking a payment of €83,000, which he considered “ridiculous”.
Later, according to Mr Houlihan, Mr Callan took away the machinery, which was stored nearby, despite being warned by him during a phone conversation not to do so. Gardaí were called.
Mr Callan claimed he had removed the machinery, with the consent of Gerard McHugh, a relative of Mr Houlihan, but Mr McHugh denied he had given Mr Callan his consent.
Cross-examined by Mark Thompson, defending, Garda Oliver Flaherty, Carrickmacross, said that when interviewed, Mr Callan appeared to be “frank and honest” and genuinely felt that he had “a right” to take the property.
Mr Callan was not then arrested, Garda Flaherty said, as it was hoped the matter could have been resolved amicably between the parties. After an absence of just over one hour, the jury returned a verdict of “not guilty” on all counts, and its decision was greeted with applause from the public gallery.