E-Paper
Sleepwalker wins €10 mn in libel
A businessman was celebrating on Friday after winning a €10 million libel case following a bizarre naked sleepwalking incident.
A businessman was celebrating on Friday after winning a €10 million libel case following a bizarre naked sleepwalking incident.
Donal Kinsella, 67, from Dunleer in County Louth, Ireland, took the case against his employer, Kenmare Resources, after the firm issued a press release that, he claimed, suggested he had made inappropriate advances to a female colleague while on a business trip to Africa in 2007.
The jury heard that Kinsella was a regular somnambulist. He had also been drinking and taking painkillers.
It was said that he had sleep-walked up to his colleague Deirdre Corcoran’s door three times but told to go back to bed by the firm’s managing director.
An inquiry by a solicitor appointed by the company found that there had been no attempt by Kinsella to enter the room and no improper conduct.
Kinsella said he felt “exhilarated and vindicated” by the jury’s decision.
