An Post agrees to mediation in case of post mistress suing over tiger kidnapping

Postmistress Susan Lawlor in her proceedings against An Post claims there was an alleged failure to have regard to previous incidences of tiger kidnapping and an alleged failure to follow the appropriate An Post protocols. File picture: Collins Courts

An Post is prepared to enter into mediation talks in the case of a postmistress who has sued after she was the victim of a tiger kidnapping, tied up and told she would be shot, the High Court has heard.

Susan Lawlor from Malahide who was the postmistress at Bayside Post Office, Dublin, was along with her daughter and an Italian student abducted from her home at gunpoint and driven around by her captors until the €80,000 contents of the post office safe were stolen in September 2014.

Ms Lawlor’s counsel Richard Kean SC, instructed by solicitor Daniel O’Connell, told the court on Tuesday that there were four sets of civil proceedings as a result of the events and Ms Lawlor’s two daughters and the Italian exchange student in the house at the time have also sued. 

All these proceedings are now linked and the court will deal with them at the same time.

Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds was told that the Lawlor side believed that FBD Insurance may not be agreeable to mediation and counsel asked that all four cases be listed for mention before the court in two weeks’ time.

Mr Justice Reynolds said she was surprised there was no representation for FBD in court on Tuesday and she directed that the insurance company be notified of the case coming back before the court in two weeks’ time.

The judge said if all the parties involved were willing to go to mediation there would have to be a very good reason if FBD Insurance were to stand in the way of that and she warned if that were the case, there may have to be cost implications.

Ms Lawlor's claims

Ms Lawlor (58) in her proceedings against An Post claims there was an alleged failure to have regard to previous incidences of tiger kidnapping and an alleged failure to follow the appropriate An Post protocols.

It is further claimed there was an alleged failure to take any or any adequate precautions for the safety of Ms Lawlor and she had allegedly been phoned on her mobile in order to ascertain whether the alarm that she had called in was valid.

All of the claims are denied and An Post contends that the postmistress was not an employee but an independent contractor.

An Post protocol

At the opening of Ms Lawlor’s action before the High Court last month, Mr Kean SC said it was a truly extraordinary case where Ms Lawlor, when she heard armed robbers in her home, followed An Post protocol by phoning a Hostage Helpline which was meant to activate a covert response.

However, counsel said as Ms Lawlor and the other two women were being driven around north Co Dublin in a car by the robbers, an An Post security officer rang her back and the robbers “went utterly ballistic”. 

Counsel said there was a massive escalation in violence and Ms Lawlor was told by one robber “I am going to shoot you in the f----- head.” She later thought they may be burned alive in the car as an accelerant was poured over it, and counsel said she pulled out some of her hair and spit on the car floor so she would leave her DNA sample.

Counsel told the court that tiger kidnappings were rampant in the country at the time and Ms Lawlor, when she heard the gang in her home, rang the hostage hotline. He said she was “loyally following protocol “ but he said her alleged “negligent treatment by An Post has caused her life-long stress and anxiety”.

Counsel said an expert on their side will say that Ms Lawlor’s condition is attributable to the tiger kidnapping and the phone call from the An Post worker which escalated aggression from the robbers.