THE KENMARE Resources plc executive who sleepwalked naked into a woman colleague’s bedroom could have dealt with the matter privately by simply agreeing to resign from a post which involved him working on a one-to-one basis with her, the High Court was told yesterday.

Donal Kinsella (67) could have continued as deputy chairman of Kenmare and as a director once he resigned as chairman of the company’s audit committee, Kenmare’s managing director Michael Carvill told the court.

Mr Carvill said he thought it was a reasonable request to ask Mr Kinsella to resign as audit committee chairman because that role involved him working with Deirdre Corcoran, the company secretary, whose bedroom door was opened three times by the sleepwalking Mr Kinsella in the early hours of May 9th, 2007 in a accommodation block in Moma, Mozambique. Mr Carvill said Mr Kinsella was only asked to resign as chairman, not from the committee itself and not from the company, simply to allay Ms Corcoran’s reasonable concerns about having to work with him in light of the distress she had suffered over the sleepwalking incident.

The company had found itself in a “terrible situation” where an unfortunate matter could have been quickly dealt with had Mr Kinsella responded to the request to resign, Mr Carvill said. That would have allowed everyone to save face, he said.

The case was adjourned until Tuesday.