A 33-year-old upholsterer has withdrawn a €38,000 damages claim against Dublin City Council following a challenge to the truth of his evidence in the Circuit Civil Court.
Mr Andrew Murphy, Glasnevin Court, Ballyboggan Road, Dublin, had told Circuit Court President Mr Justice Smyth that he broke his left big toe and hurt his knee when he stepped in an open manhole near his home five years ago.
He said he had been treated at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, and four days later at The Mater Hospital, Dublin.
Mr John Doherty, counsel for the local authority, produced hospital notes showing that an X-ray at the Drogheda hospital revealed no bone injury to Murphy's left foot.
Murphy denied that the only complaint he had made at the Drogheda Hospital was with regard to a knee injury. He also denied ever having told a doctor at the Mater four days later, where the big toe fracture was revealed under X-ray, that he had sustained this injury while playing football.
When Mr Doherty put it to him that he had no broken toe when he attended the Drogheda hospital but had broken the toe by the time he attended the Mater Hospital, Mr Murphy denied it.
Mr Doherty told the judge the council had thoroughly investigated Mr Murphy's claim. It had brought the Mater doctor concerned back from England to give evidence of Mr Murphy having told him his toe had been broken while playing football.
Mr Justice Smyth said he would have no hesitation in sending the papers in the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions should the football injury reference be substantiated in court.
After a brief adjournment in the middle of Mr Doherty's cross-examination, Mr Murphy withdrew his damages claim.