Witness weeps as she tells High Court of decision to sell Barne Estate
Anna Thomson-Moore outside the High Court on Thursday. She told the court the family decided to sell Barne Estate and move to Australia because of their child's healthcare. Picture: Collins Courts
The wife of a man being sued by bloodstock billionaire John Magnier over the purported sale of a Co Tipperary estate, broke down in tears in the witness box at the High Court as she told of the decision to sell the estate so that the family could move to Australia because of their child's healthcare.
Anna Thomson-Moore's husband, Richard is being sued by Mr Magnier, who claims that he had agreed a handshake deal with the Thomson-Moores for Barne Estate in Co Tipperary worth €15m in August 2023.
Ms Thomson-Moore told the High Court on Thursday that her five-year old son, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, is in need of 24-hour care, cannot walk or crawl and is non verbal and that this was behind the decision to sell the Co Tipperary estate.
Ms Thomson-Moore told her barrister, Martin Hayden SC, that she did not want her son to be "defined by his disabilities" but that his condition meant the family had chosen to move to Australia where Ms Thomson-Moore has a large family that could support her son.
Ms Thomson-Moore was emotional when she described her thoughts as to how Teddy would be cared for after she and her husband, as "older" parents, died or should anything happen to them.
She said her son was a "delightfully happy and inquisitive child" but that he had a number of diagnoses and his conditions meant that he could not feed or wash himself, nor was he toilet trained and required 24-hour care.
She said her son was not capable of doing things other five-year-olds would be expected to do and moving to Australia was decided as healthcare services for children in her area in Co Tipperary were under-resourced, difficult to avail of and over subscribed.
Ms Thomson-Moore said that there was a national scheme available in her homeland with individualised budgets for children with her son's diagnoses but that the family would have to physically be in Australia to avail of the services there.
Ms Thomson-Moore said that Mr Magnier had visited Barne before the purported handshake deal of August 22, 2021, and had asked if the family was being put under pressure by a bank to sell.
A trained lawyer, Ms Thomson-Moore said she told Mr Magnier that it was a family decision to sell the estate and said this decision involved the trustees of the estate.
Mr Hayden asked Ms Thomson-Moore if Mr Magnier expressed any surprise upon learning of the involvement of trustees in the estate to which Ms Thomson-Moore said "no".
The Magnier side claims a deal was struck for Barne Estate, which the Magniers believed they had shook hands on in August 2023 for €15m.
However, the Magnier side were ultimately gazumped by Irish-born, US-based construction magnate Maurice Regan, who offered €22.25m.
The case centres on Mr Magnier's claim that Mr Regan engaged in a "full-frontal assault" on Mr Magnier's claimed deal to buy the 751-acre tract and that Barne estate reneged on the deal.
Barne Estate has been held for the benefit of Richard Thomson-Moore and others by a Jersey trust.
The Magnier side has sued the Barne Estate, Mr Thomson-Moore and three companies of IQEQ (Jersey) Ltd group, seeking to enforce the purported deal, which they say had been "unequivocally" agreed.
The Barne defendants say there was never any such agreement, as they needed the consent of trustees to finalise any agreement and subsequently they preferred to sell the estate to Mr Regan.
Mr Regan is not a party to the case.
The case continues before Mr Justice Max Barrett.
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