Postmistress settles action against An Post over tiger kidnapping

Actions by Ms Lawlor’s two daughters and an Italian exchange student who was in the house at the time of the incident have also been settled

Postmistress Susan Lawlor (pictured) 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. File picture: Collins Courts

A postmistress who sued An Post after she was the victim of a tiger kidnapping, in which she was tied up and told she would be shot, has settled her High Court action.

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 in all there were four sets of civil proceedings as a result of the events. Ms Lawlor’s two daughters and the Italian exchange student in the house at the time had also sued.

Counsel for An Post, Elaine Morgan SC, told the court the four actions against An Post had been settled and could be struck out. The settlements came after mediation talks spanning a number of days. The terms of the settlements are confidential.

Ms Justice Reynolds congratulated the parties on achieving a resolution.

Ms Lawlor, aged 58, in her proceedings against An Post claimed 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 was 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 were denied and An Post contended that the postmistress was not an employee but an independent contractor.

Tiger kidnapping

At the opening of Ms Lawlor’s action before the High Court last year, 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 would say that Ms Lawlor’s condition was attributable to the tiger kidnapping and the phone call from the An Post worker which escalated aggression from the robbers. An Post denied all the claims.