A woman who declined to hire a safe deposit box in her Majorca holiday apartment has lost a court claim for the loss of jewellery worth more than £3,000.
Ms Linda Kearns, of Melesian Grove, Feltrim Road, Swords, Co Dublin, was awarded £2,500 for trauma and distress suffered because of a break in at her apartment. She had been awarded £5,000 in the District Court against Capitol Holdings Ltd, trading as Sunworld, Suffolk Street, Dublin, but yesterday Judge Harvey Kenny, on appeal, halved the award. He held she could have better secured her valuables by use of the safe deposit box.
The court heard the robbery took place in the Hafria Apartments, Palma Nova, Majorca, Spain, in July, 1995.
Mrs Kearns told Mr Martin Hayden, counsel for Sunworld, that she had considered the safe deposit box as unfit for keeping valuables in. It had been mounted onto a drawer unit and had been held in place only by screws which were clearly visible.
Her valuables had been stolen from a handbag in a drawer in a sideboard in her apartment.
