Contempt man undertakes to keep peace

A man involved in a legal wrangle with his family over land ownership has given an undertaking to keep the peace after he was found in contempt of court.

Frank Roche, of Ballyadeen, Castletownroche, appeared before Judge Seán Ó’Donnabháin in Bandon Circuit Court after counsel for his brother, David John Roche, claimed he had broken the terms of an injunction handed down in January under which Frank Roche had been ordered not to block entrances or exits to a farm and not to threaten anyone.

An affidavit from David John Roche relating to an alleged incident on the lands last Sunday was heard in court, which Frank Roche disputed.

Judge Ó’Donnabháin found that Frank Roche had contravened the order issued in January and warned the defendant that he faced a month in jail unless he promised to keep the peace in relation to his brother and to observe the terms of the injunction regarding causing any obstruction over the farmland in question.

The one-month sentence was suspended after Frank Roche gave the undertaking.

The matter was last before court in Fermoy last week and had been adjourned until June after Frank Roche appeared to collapse just as his brother was about to give evidence.