Judge dismisses case against landlord and son over removal of student ‘trespassers’ from Cork property

A landlord and his son have walked free after a judge dismissed all the charges against them arising from an incident in which they entered a house they were letting in Cork city and removed a number of students who had been staying at the property.

Daniel Lynch (62) of Moanmore, Castleisland, Co Kerry had denied a total of four charges and his son, Donal Lynch (32), had denied a total of three charges arising from the incident at Mr Lynch Snr’s property at Rosetta, Nursery View, Glasheen Road, Cork on August 11th, 2022.

Mr Lynch Snr had been charged with assaulting students George Pendle and Olivia Lehane at the house while Mr Lynch Jnr had been charged with assaulting Mr Pendle. Both men were also charged with attempting to steal Mr Pendle’s phone and trespassing with intent to commit theft.

Following legal submissions by Lynch’s solicitor, Joe Cuddigan, Judge Marion O’Leary dismissed all charges against them on Tuesday at a resumed hearing of the case at Cork District Court.

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Judge O’Leary emphasised that the case was “not a landlord and tenant issue” but a criminal prosecution as she delivered her judgment on the matter arising from the fact that four students had been living at the property during June, July and part of August 2022.

She pointed out that only one of the students ever had a lease at the property and it had expired in May 2022. She did not pay any rent during the period June to August 2022. Mr Lynch only discovered the house was occupied when he went to do it up.

Judge O’Leary noted that the student claimed she had an agreement with the estate agent representing the landlord to bring four people into the property for the summer, but this was disputed. When the estate agent wrote to her, phoned and texted, he received no replies.

“It is noted one of the young men was approached by the estate agent and the man said to call the following day [and] that he would pay him the rent but when he did return, the particular male had gone and his room was empty,” she said.

“Having regard to evidence before the court there is no implied lease or letting agreement in place. Of the four people who were residing on the property, they entered the property without consent and did not pay any rent,” she added.

“As a consequence of their actions, they were trespassers on the property and the owners were entitled to enter the property and ask the trespassers to vacate immediately. A person is allowed to use proportionate force to remove trespassers from their property.”

Judge O’Leary said that the State had not reached the threshold to prove Mr Lynch and his son were trespassers and having heard the complainants’ evidence and a garda memo of an interview with the two accused she had a reasonable doubt regarding the assaults and dismissed the assault charges.

Mr Cuddigan had alleged during a cross-examination of one of the students that when they were staying in the house in Cork that summer, they were “milking the situation and freeloading” but the evidence from the students was that they were willing to pay the rent.

One of them claimed he was pulled out of bed by his ankles while wearing nothing but his underwear and put out by Mr Lynch and his son. However, Mr Lynch Snr said the student kicked him with both feet into the chest and only then was he physically removed from the house.

Mr Cuddigan in his submission said that “taking all the evidence as a totality and factoring in the manner of disclosure of evidence to the defence which was highly unsatisfactory”, all the charges should be dismissed against his clients.

He submitted that letting agent, Mark Gosling, had informed Mr Lynch that people had been living in the house for the summer without paying rent and that they were either gone or had their bags packed to go. He said the Lynches went to the house that day not expecting to find anyone there.

“The fact that there are people in that house does not mean they are entitled to be there. If they [students] are not entitled to be there then the Lynches cannot be regarded as trespassers,” said Mr Cuddigan pointing out that Mr Gosling had described those staying at the house as “squatters”.

He said the alleged offence of attempted theft was not properly before the court. He said a mistake in the summonses in relation to the alleged assault of Mr Pendle meant it should be dismissed, while the charge against Mr Lynch Snr of assaulting Ms Lehane should be dismissed on the basis of the evidence.

Following Judge O’Leary’s ruling and dismissal of all charges, Mr Cuddigan thanked the judge for the time and consideration she had given to the case, and he said that his clients were highly relieved as it had been a cause of great concern to them particularly given the media coverage it had received.

“On behalf of my clients, thank you – they were subject to quite an amount of invidious comment when this matter came before the court initially, particularly in the media in Kerry and ‘landlord’ in Kerry still has certain connotations in the post-1847 era and my clients suffered because of that.”

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