Strong-willed daughter makes her feelings plain as claim is laid to estate

Up to yesterday, Eamonn Lillis had not seen or heard from his 18-year-old daughter Georgia for a year

NOT EVEN the dispassionate, mile-a-minute recital of the affidavits by Brian Spierin SC managed to mute the verdict of a young woman on her father: “I would rather stick pins in my eyes than have him return within six miles of Rowan Hill [the family home]”.

Any lingering doubts about Georgia Lillis’s loyalties were speedily dispelled: “At all times I have been supportive of my aunt and uncle . . . I am a strong person. I know my own mind . . . I am fully behind these proceedings . . . I have not at any stage been influenced in relation to the proceedings.

“Any suggestion by the defendant [her father, Eamonn Lillis] to the contrary is untrue . . .”

Her powerful evidence came in an affidavit in a High Court case aimed at preventing Lillis, who is in prison for killing his wife Celine Cawley, from securing any interest in assets jointly owned by him and Ms Cawley. The case has been taken by Ms Cawley’s sister and brother as joint administrators of her estate, along with Georgia Lillis.

Up to yesterday, Eamonn Lillis had not seen or heard from his daughter for a year. In that time, she had turned 18, sat her Leaving Certificate, learned to live alone in the family home with some paid help, and grown into a funny, relaxed young woman. She is due to celebrate her 19th birthday next week.

Meanwhile, her father, a former art director, was moving towards the second year of a near seven-year prison sentence for the manslaughter of her mother. In his words, he was finding prison life “extremely difficult”, his reputation and livelihood had been “destroyed” and many of his friends and acquaintances had “distanced” themselves from him.

He was “plagued” with guilt and remorse, according to his affidavit. Nonetheless, he felt he had already been punished for bringing about the death of Georgia’s mother, and yesterday he was in High Court No 3 to defend his claim to inherit the €1,193,687.25 estate in full, by right of “survivorship”, and according to the terms of a will drawn up while Georgia was a baby.

During the proceedings, however, Lillis’s counsel said he was not claiming entitlement to all of the assets he held with his wife, but rather to a 50 per cent share.

The assets at issue have declined sharply since the death of Celine Cawley. For example, their Howth home, valued at €2.1 million at the time of her death, is now reckoned to be worth about €800,000, taking account of a 25 per cent reduction “because of what had taken place there”, in the words of Mr Spierin.

Members of the Cawley family were in the second row to one side of the public gallery when he arrived, escorted by two prison officers, who settled him into the bench directly in front. The Cawleys promptly rose and moved to the opposite side.

In an otherwise quiet courtroom, the Cawleys grew in number as the clock ticked towards 11am, until there were more than 15 of them drawn from three generations, ranging from Celine’s elderly father, James Cawley, to her siblings and loyal in-laws, and down the age scale to Georgia’s young cousins.

They also included old friends of Celine’s such as Juliet Hussey. As Georgia took sips from a water bottle, head down, hiding her face behind her hair and nervously twisting her hands, the empty space around Lillis and his casual attire of a grey, short-sleeved polo shirt contrasted sharply with the cool, smartly dressed Cawleys. Later, when the Cawleys would leave together for lunch, he would have his lunch inside a prison van parked in the Four Courts yard.

On the way back, he would linger at the door of the court. Eventually, he had to take his place before his daughter returned to be enveloped by her family, her aunt Susanna – herself a lawyer – guiding her through the court documents.

These exposed a painful dissonance between father and daughter. Georgia and others smiled wryly at his declaration that “our daughter is in regular telephone contact with me. She keeps me up to date on her life. She shares successes such as passing her driving test with me. She has visited me in prison . . .” She replied in her affidavit, as read out by Mr Spierin: “I visited him only once.”

When he claimed he and his daughter were in agreement that he would eventually return to the family home, Susanna Cawley emphasised categorically that there was no such agreement between father and daughter.

When he claimed to have left things in order for Georgia – a full tank of oil at home and all utilities paid – it was claimed that utilities in fact had been disconnected, and that “no financial, domestic or other arrangements were put in place for her ongoing care and maintenance . . .”

He had asserted he lacked resources, said Susanna, but he had funds of about €400,000 invested to which he had immediate access, plus a €345,000 share from the sale of Toytown Films. He said his criminal defence had cost more than €250,000. This case will cost another €120,000 or so, according to legal sources.

As the case drew to a close, Georgia visibly relaxed, almost giddy that this might be the beginning of an end to her public ordeals. “It’s purely a point of law,” said Ms Justice Mary Laffoy efficiently. “I will give my judgment as soon as possible.”