A LIMERICK bookkeeper, who claimed a man who was her employer for almost 20 years raped her twice, has lost her appeal for unfair dismissal.
Annette Egan, Lower Carey’s Road, Limerick, appealed a decision by an Employment Appeals Tribunal which had already ruled that she was not unfairly dismissed by Limerick auctioneer John Shaw, who is vice-president of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers.
At Limerick Circuit Court yesterday, the widowed mother of two lost her appeal against the tribunal’s ruling and was made liable for all costs of the appeal.
Ms Egan had alleged that her employer had raped her twice, claims which Judge James O’Donohoe said were “totally unsubstantiated” and amounted to “character assassination”.
Last week the court was told that following a Garda investigation, no charges were brought against Mr Shaw who said he was “totally devastated” by the allegations and spent a week in hospital as a result. He said the incidents described by Ms Egan did not take place in any form and he insisted that she had not been dismissed, but had resigned.