Ray Managh
A former model has been told by a judge she was part of a contrived accident which led to claims by herself and three of her sisters in law for damages totalling €240,000.
Julieanne Joyce (23), whose husband Patrick Joyce is serving a 14-year prison sentence for his part in an aggravated burglary, and her three in-laws were ordered to pay legal costs which will total close on €100,000 after their claims were thrown out by Judge Terence O'Sullivan in the Circuit Civil Court.
Judge O’Sullivan told Joyce her case against the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland and a taxi driver had all the hallmarks of an exaggerated claim. He accepted that as the four women had sat in the taxi moaning and shouting following a set-up collision firemen had been asked to remove the roof because of alleged spinal injuries.
Cross-examined by Conor Kearney, counsel for the taxi driver, all four told the court they had stepped out of the taxi after medics, as they were entitled to do, ruled out any possibility of spinal injury.
Barrister Michael Murray, for the MIBI, told Joyce her husband was a notorious criminal serving a 14-year jail sentence for his part in an aggravated burglary in County Tipperary in which a couple had been put through a terrifying ordeal.
Joyce, of Edenmore Walk Apartments, Raheny, Dublin, and her sisters-in-law Elizabeth Ward, (28) of Moatview Avenue, Priorswood, Coolock, Dublin; Kathleen O'Reilly, (30) Railway Court, Clongriffin, Dublin, and Philomena Joyce (19) of Moatview Avenue, had each sued the defendants for €60,000 arising from a rear-ending on May 5th, 2014 on Clonshaugh Road.
Joyce’s sisters-in-law are sisters of Patrick Joyce. All four told the court they had been out for dinner and while returning home in a taxi had been rear-ended, suffering whiplash and back injuries. They said the taxi driver had pursued the untraced hit-and-run driver over traffic ramps which had added to their injuries.
Mr Kearney asked Joyce in cross-examination if she had ever been guilty of dishonesty. When she said no he produced evidence of “a high level shoplifting blitz” she and another woman had conducted in Belfast two years ago.
Joyce said she had been charged with shoplifting in Belfast and had been banned from going into Belfast city centre following shoplifting charges relating to House of Frazer, Lifestyle Sport, River Island, Marks and Spencer, Next, Gap, Top Shop, Disney, Mamas & Papas and JD Sports.
Judge O’Sullivan said the accident had been set up, contrived and deliberately brought about by Joyce and the driver of the car behind. “This accident has all the hallmarks of a try-on,” he said.