The wife of a Donegal publican who was wrongfully imprisoned on drugs charges told the High Court today it was "like a bereavement" for their family.
Mr Frank Shortt was jailed in 1995 on charges of knowingly allowing the sale of drugs at his nightclub, The Point Inn, in Inishowen. He was freed in 1997.
The case was declared a miscarriage of justice by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2002. Mr Shortt is bringing a claim for damages, believed to be several million euro, against the Garda Commissioner and the State.
Despite the declaration of a miscarriage, Mrs Sally Shortt said she believed the cloud cast on her family from the time drugs were linked to the Point Inn in the early 1990s would never go away.
"It's like seeing a bad film going on and on, there just doesn't seem to be any end to it," she said. If their five children had not had to grow up under the cloud of the Point Inn and their father's imprisonment, she would like to think they would have a different upbringing.
She said her children had been taunted in school and in the community and had difficulties finding work. One daughter had left for Germany.
Mrs Shortt added that she herself had been shunned by many in her local community and she never really went out anywhere, except to events involving the local Irish Countrywomen's Association where she experienced no condemnation. "Other than that, I haven't had an invite for years," she said.
Mrs Shortt was giving evidence in the continuing hearing before the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Finnegan, to determine the amount of compensation to be paid to Mr Shortt.
The State has disputed some of the claims advanced, including claims for loss of earnings and loss of profits.
The case on behalf of Mr Shortt concluded today day and the judge then heard evidence called by the State from Mr Ray Jackson, chartered accountant.
He said he regarded aspects of Mr Shortt's claim as fundamentally flawed, including parts of the claim relating to alleged loss of profit from the planned, but never realised, development of lands at the Point Inn as a caravan park.
The case was adjourned and will resume on November 26th.