Man cleared of assaulting burglar twice with his car

By Elaine Keogh

Thursday, February 16, 2012

The businessman cleared of assaulting a burglar he struck twice with his Mercedes car last night said: "I’m glad it’s all over." He said he wouldn’t go "through this ordeal again".

Surrounded by his family and friends, property developer Martin McCaughey, 48, was speaking on the steps of Dundalk courthouse where minutes earlier a jury returned a not guilty verdict. He had always denied the charge of assaulting Daniel McCormack causing him harm.

The two-day trial heard McCormack 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.

After the verdict, Mr McCaughey said it had been "a long two years for me and me family".

He said: "I think I should never have been here in the first place, that’s what I believe anyway.

"Unfortunately, that is the system and they dragged me through the courts and I’ve got justice at the finish of it." He said: "I wouldn’t want to go through this ordeal again to be honest with you," but added that he had had a lot of support since the trial began.

The jury took two hours and 30 minutes to agree on its verdict.

Earlier in the day the jury had been told by Judge Gerard Griffin he was directing them to return a not guilty verdict on a second charge which had accused McCaughey of endangerment.

In his charge to the jury the judge told them to "leave aside any sympathy or disgust you may have for anyone in this trial".

McCaughey, 48, of Bunvista, Mount Avenue, denied assault causing harm to Daniel McCormack, aged 27, at Clann Chullainn Park, Farndreg, Dundalk, on June 27, 2008.

Yesterday the jury heard how McCaughey told gardaí: "I hit him again in my car," and that "I squashed him" between the railings and the car.

Brendan Grehan, defending, told the jury the intention of the accused man had been to assist the gardaí. He said: "I am not looking for sympathy for Mr McCaughey," nor was he asking the jury to be "hostile" to Daniel McCormack. He said the accused "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.

Prosecuting counsel Kevin Segrave told the jury that McCaughey had used his car "as a weapon to assault," against Daniel McCormack and had given him "a skilful chase".

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, February 16, 2012