The State is to pay an undisclosed sum to a stonemason who was arrested in a Sligo cemetery shortly after he had reported to the gardai and a local radio station that he had found a wallet containing $4,000 in cash and travellers cheques.
The payment is in settlement of the action taken by Mr Martin Cadden against the State alleging false imprisonment and slander.
Ms Justice McGuinness and a jury were told yesterday that the Minister for Justice and other defendants were happy to acknowledge that Mr Cadden's behaviour regarding his discovery was "entirely honest and above board".
Mr Thomas Slattery SC, for the Minister for Justice and the State, added that the parties had agreed the other terms of settlement would remain confidential.
However, it was later learned that Mr Cadden (40), of Ballydoogan, Maugheraboy, Co Sligo, is to be paid a cash amount and his legal costs.
The settlement was announced during the second day's hearing of the action brought by Mr Cadden, who was arrested while working in Sligo cemetery on August 15th 1996.
Opening the case on Tuesday, Mr Adrian Hardiman SC, for Mr Cadden, said his client found a wallet containing $2,000 in cash, $2,000 in travellers cheques and credit cards on the side of a road while going to a cemetery earlier that morning.
He rang North West Radio and Sligo Garda Station to report the find. He was told by gardai they had no report of a lost or stolen wallet and he left his mobile phone number with them so he might be contacted if such a report was made.
While working at another cemetery some hours later, gardai arrested him for "larceny by finding".
Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Cadden said he was outraged when told he was being arrested. "I flipped the lid, I had done nothing wrong . . . I found a wallet and now all of a sudden I have been arrested."
Mr Cadden sued for damages for libel, slander, battery and false imprisonment. The defence denied the claim.
Mr Cadden said when he found the wallet, he rang North West Radio which had a lost and found section on a programme. A receptionist there informed him she could not broadcast an announcement unless it came from the gardai.
Mr Cadden then rang the Garda station and asked if there was any report of a wallet being lost or stolen. A garda said there had not and added: "Keep it." Mr Cadden said he knew that was being said in jest. He gave his mobile number to the garda and said if anybody reported a wallet lost or stolen, to ring him.
Mr Cadden said he was later entering the gate of Sligo cemetery when he received a phone call from the garda to whom he had spoken earlier who told him a man claiming to have lost a wallet was at the station.
Mr Cadden said his truck was then "half-in and half-out" of the cemetery and he asked if he could speak to the wallet owner to alleviate his fears. The garda said nothing and the phone went dead.
In the cemetery, he spoke with a caretaker and his assistant whom he knew had links with North West Radio. The assistant was going to ring the station to see if it would announce the wallet was found.
Then two gardai arrived. One garda told him she was sent by a superintendent to arrest him under the Larceny by Finding Law. He protested strongly but was told that if he did not go peacefully, they would radio for another patrol car.
He drove his lorry to the Garda station, followed by the Garda car. He was brought upstairs to a room in the station where there was an elderly man and woman. A garda told the couple: "We got the man with your wallet."