A CLONAKILTY  man who broke a CCTV camera worth €1,100 in a family dispute over a house was ordered to pay compensation.

Colin O’Donovan (35), of Maulmacredmond, Clonakilty pleaded guilty to the criminal damage charge at Clonakilty District Court.

On April 14th last, gardaí received a call from Jeffrey Spillane about an incident at a house on College Court. They went to the scene and took details from Mr O’Donovan and two of his family members. The court heard that the property had been bought at public auction in October 2023 by local company Malaway Limited, which at the time  was run by Frank Spillane and the accused’s father, Michael O’Donovan.

The defendant’s brother, Ricky O’Donovan, had been a tenant at the property with his partner and two children. On April 2nd last, Jeffrey Spillane, Frank Spillane’s son, who was then the director of Malaway Limited, made an application to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to have Ricky O’Donovan removed from the house because of rent arrears. The board ordered that the defendant’s brother had 28 days to move out of the house.

On April 11th Mr Spillane installed CCTV at the property, changed the locks and moved Ricky O’Donovan’s car, which was said to be blocking access to the house. Ricky O’Donovan’s belongings and those of his family were still in the house, the court heard.

On April 14th, Mr Spillane got an alert on his phone saying that the CCTV had detected movement at the property. Footage showed the defendant standing on a car and trying to knock down the CCTV camera with a stick.

The court heard that the defendant had 11 previous convictions for assault, possession of drugs, burglary and driving offences. Defence solicitor Myra Dinneen said her client would pay the €1,100 compensation.

Judge Joanne Carroll requested a Probation Report and adjourned the case until July 7th.

‘This man has to sort his own affairs and he has to leave his brothers sort out theirs,’ said Judge Carroll.

Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme.