NORTHERN IRELAND developer Seymour Sweeney was given a one-month suspended sentence yesterday for grabbing a man by the throat on his estate near the Giant's Causeway.
Sweeney, 56, was also fined £500 after a magistrate at a court in Coleraine found him guilty of common assault.
The property tycoon, whose plans for a private visitors' centre at the Causeway were at the centre of political controversy, had denied using excessive force in the incident in July 2006.
Swimming coach James Cunning had alleged Sweeney, Ardihannon House, Runkerry, Co Antrim, grabbed him by the throat and shook him violently after accusing him of trespassing.
Mr Cunning and his partner Catherine Loughrey had walked on to the land to look at a property they believed was for sale.
Sweeney told the court the couple had been repeatedly told by himself and other residents that there was no home on the market and they were trespassing on private property.
But magistrate Rosie Waters did not accept his claim that when he physically confronted Mr Cunning he only briefly placed his hands on his shoulders and politely told him to leave.
"He couldn't give a satisfactory explanation as to what he had intended by laying his hands on him," she told the court.
Mr Cunning claimed Sweeney sped up to the couple in his Range Rover, narrowly missing Ms Loughrey, and subjected them to a volley of abusive language. "Mr Sweeney grabbed me by the neck with his two hands and shook me like a rag doll," he said.
Mr Sweeney's application to build a privately-owned visitors' centre at the Giant's Causeway was rejected by Environment Minister Arlene Foster this year.
The plan caused a furore after it emerged that North Antrim MLA Ian Paisley jnr had lobbied for the project, even taking the case to Tony Blair.