A Dublin man, disguised in a wig, told a judge he wasn’t himself but was his own cousin, it was alleged in the Circuit Civil Court on Tuesday.
Barrister Damien Keaney told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that he was in the High Court two months ago when Niall Kelly, whom he recognised, had turned up in the wig.
Kelly had told Mr Justice Seamus Noonan on May 21st last that he wasn’t Niall Kelly but was Niall Kelly’s cousin bearing a certificate that Niall Kelly was sick and unable to attend court.
Mr Keaney, counsel for Fingal County Council which is seeking to attach and imprison Kelly for contempt of court for another issue, told Judge Linnane he realised he was verging on the border of giving evidence.
He felt however that he had to tell the court of what had happened in the High Court when Mr Kelly had attempted to appeal an order of Judge Linnane’s directing him to remove a caravan and two mobile homes from the garden of his house at 19 Berwick Lawn, Swords Manor, Co Dublin.
Judge Linnane heard that Kelly had made a bid to appeal her order and had turned up in the High Court on the day, wearing the wig and saying he was his own cousin, in order to get an adjournment.
Mr Keaney said Judge Noonan had struck out Mr Kelly’s appeal on the basis that he had failed to turn up to prosecute the appeal.
Mr Kelly was described in a recent Circuit Civil Court hearing as “playing ducks and drakes” with the courts over several years.
On Tuesday, Mr Kelly, who voluntarily turned up to answer an order for him to show cause why he should not be attached and committed, told Judge Linnane he had a constitutional right to appeal his case to the Court of Appeal or the European Court should he so decide.
Judge Linnane, who last week directed the Garda Commissioner to arrest Mr Kelly and bring him to court to answer the allegation of contempt, agreed he had every right to appeal to Europe if he so felt. She told Mr Kelly she would give him another chance to comply with her order to remove the caravans and adjourned the application to attach and commit him until Friday July 26th.
“It does not appear to me that you are taking this matter seriously but maybe in the meantime you will realise how serious it is and perhaps take legal advice,” Judge Linnane told him.
Mr Kelly told the court it was his cousin who had appeared in the High Court on May 21st last and not himself in a wig. He had been unable to attend the court personally due to having injured himself.
He had found out about the attachment and committal order only on Monday after a neighbour had said over the fence to him: “I see you’re for the nick again Kelly.”
He said a report of the council’s application to commit him had appeared in the national media.