Man awarded €40k after Dunnes falsely accused him of theft

A judge has awarded €40,000 to a man finding he was defamed and falsely imprisoned by Dunnes Stores after being falsely accused of stealing a packet of firelighters.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Gerald Keys awarded the damages to Michael Horkan, aged 68, over the incident at Dunnes Stores in Shannon on March 31, 2015, where he was detained for 20 minutes after being accused of stealing firelighters and Fruit ’n Fibre cereal.

On the day, Mr Horkan was accompanied to the store by his wife, Caroline, who suffers from muscular dystrophy.