A NIGHTCLUB owner and his staff have been cleared by a judge of allegations of kicking a man in the head and throwing his wife down a fire escape.
Judge Esmonde Smyth in the Circuit Civil Court said Mr Andrew and Mr Lynda Gibson, of Brookdale Walk, Swords, Co Dublin, had exaggerated their account of how they came to be ejected from the Nite Owls club in Ranelagh, Dublin, in March 1993.
Judge Smyth told Mr Hugh Hartnett, counsel for the club owner, Mr Desmond Woottnet, that he did not believe Mr Gibson had been kicked in the head by his clients or that Mrs Gibson had been lifted and thrown down the steps.
He said there was no doubt Mr Gibson was ejected and that both he and his wife had been injured, most probably by his resisting and her stumbling on the fire escape.
Judge Smyth accepted that the reason for the quick and forceful ejection was that Mr Gibbons had raised a glass in a threatening manner to a security man. He held that in such circumstances bouncers were entitled to get him out as quickly as possible.