A woman who suffered a heart attack as she watched her husband being murdered in a contract killing has had her claim for damages heard at the High Court.
In a case which is the first of its kind in Ireland, Mrs Margaret Madden of Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon attended the High Court in Dublin to give evidence in support of her claim for damages against the men who were involved in the murder of her husband – Terence Madden (52) – in January 1999.
Ms Justice Mary Irvine heard that Mr Madden died in what was intended as a punishment-style beating for running a Bed and Breakfast establishment in competition to his assailant´s mother´s business. Although his attackers were instructed only to break bones in his limbs, Mr Madden received a bullet in his thigh which punctured his artery and caused him to bleed to death.
The court was told that three men were serving life sentences for Mr Madden´s death and that Margaret´s claim for unlawful killing compensation included a claim against the estate of a fourth man who had died two years ago. One of Terence Madden´s attackers – Michael Doohan – was at the High Court to hear details of the claim, and Ms Justice Mary Irvine was informed that he and the other two assailants would abide with any order made by the court.
In her evidence, Margaret Madden told the court that since her husband´s death she has not been unable to run her business and had suffered the personal injury of a heart attack at the time of the killing and nervous shock thereafter. Mrs Madden asked the court for aggravated and punitive damages for assault, battery, conspiracy and intimidation and also requested that an order be placed on the three surviving men to prevent them from concealing their assets.
After hearing Margaret Madden´s evidence, Ms Justice Mary Irvine adjourned the hearing and said she will rule on the sum of damages to be awarded next week.