Enniskillen Courthouse
A BELLEEK man who was accused of trying to knock down his brother with a car following a long-running family feud has walked free from court after the judge threw out the allegations against him.
39-year-old Niall Herron, of Blackrock Park, allegedly drove his Mercedes on to the footpath outside his mother’s house missing his brother Declan by inches who was weeding outside the property at the time.
The incident was said to have stemmed from an ongoing family dispute over money following the death of their father a number of years ago.
Their mother Kathleen Herron also gave evidence against her son Niall, claiming that he almost collided with Declan, as they both stood outside her home on St Patrick’s Terrace in Belleek.
However District Judge Nigel Broderick rejected their evidence saying it was not credible or reliable.
The court was told that the incident was alleged to have happened on December 7 last year, just three days before Declan was convicted of assaulting Niall’s son.
Cross-examined by defence barrister Stephen Mooney, Declan was accused of “tit-for-tat vendetta” and that his allegation was fuelled by his assault conviction.
He went on to accuse Declan of making up lies about his brother and that he played the victim in their arguments.
Mr Mooney said: “This case did simply not just happen. Relations between you and your brother are not good. This relationship has disintegrated over the last few years and there is bad blood between you both.
“When questioned by the police about the incident (assault) you said you didn’t know who did it and that it must have been your brother. You are far from being the victim, you have given as good as you have got and maybe worse. You lied to the court from your previous court case and you lied about your own brother and his son.”
However, Declan denied this saying that the incident was a “vendetta” against him.
Under cross-examination by prosecution, Niall denied the charges, which included dangerous driving, no licence, common assault and fraudulently using a certificate of insurance.
The defendant told the court that he was not driving that day as he had no licence.
He said: “The first I heard about this allegation at the end of December when the police came to my house and told me about it. This is a complete false allegation.”
However, prosecution put it to the defendant that his “level of animosity he felt towards his family drove him to do it”.
Rejecting their claims that the accused tried to mow down Declan, Judge Broderick described their evidence as “evasive and unreliable”.
He said: “I have to say when assessing them in relation to the injured party I have found his evidence very evasive and not particularly credible and I found his mother’s evidence vague and evasive.
“The defendant struck me as a straightforward witness. I can’t be satisfied their evidence was credible and reliable.”
He then dismissed the charges and the defendant walked free from court.
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