A LOUTH man has been cleared of assaulting a burglar whom he chased and then twice struck with his car. Property developer Martin McCaughey (48), Mount Avenue, Dundalk, had denied assault causing harm to Daniel McCormack at Clann Chullainn Park, Farndreg, Dundalk, on June 27th, 2008.
The two-day trial heard that Mr McCormack (27) was given a suspended three-year jail term for the burglary on the McCaughey family home and later successfully sued Mr McCaughey for €175,000.
He had, the court heard, been left with broken legs and was unable to walk unassisted for months.
The jurors took 2½ hours to agree on its verdict of not guilty.
Earlier yesterday they had been told by Judge Gerard Griffin that he was directing them to return a not guilty verdict on a second charge, which had accused Mr McCaughey of endangerment.
In his charge to the jurors, the judge told them to “leave aside any sympathy or disgust you may have for anyone in this trial.”
The jury was told that when gardaí arrived at the scene just after 6am, they found Mr McCaughey’s car in the middle of the road and he was barefoot and wearing just boxer shorts.
Mr McCormack was on the ground with serious leg injuries.
Mr McCaughey told gardaí that at 5.45am, “this bastard was in my bedroom, me and my wife were there”. He said he had chased him into the estate in his car and “I hit him with the car.” After the first time “he kept running” and, at that point, “he wasn’t limping”.
He added: “I hit him again in my car” and “I squashed him” between the railings and the car. “He tried to move and couldn’t. I reversed then.”
Brendan Grehan, defending, told the jury that Mr McCaughey’s intention had been to assist gardaí. “I am not looking for sympathy for Mr McCaughey” nor was he asking the jury to be “hostile” to Mr McCormack.
He said Mr McCaughey “was not a vigilante” and was not somebody out at night in his car patrolling for bad people.
Asking the jury to acquit his client, Mr Grehan said: “I ask you not to support some law of the jungle” but to support “an ordinary decent citizen” doing something to apprehend somebody who committed a crime.
Kevin Segrave, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr McCaughey had used his car “as a weapon to assault” Mr McCormack and had given him “a skilful chase”.
In his closing speech, Mr Segrave said the law “prevents us from being savages” and it not only kept drug addicts in their place but also “the wealthy middle class”.
After the verdict, Mr McCaughey said it had been “a long two years for me and me family. I’m glad it’s all over and [want] to get it behind us.”
Surrounded by his family and friends on the steps of Dundalk courthouse, he said: “I think I should never have been here in the first place, that’s what I believe anyway . . . I wouldn’t want to go through this ordeal again, to be honest with you”.
He had had a lot of support since the trial began. “My phone and text never stopped last night, it was unbelievable, people wishing me well and the best of luck.”