Siblings who sold house shocked stepmother was alive, court told
John Moore and Maria Byrne, stepson and stepdaughter of Maureen Moore, leaving court.Picture: Collins Photo Agency
THE stepchildren of a woman who claims they used someone else's death certificate to sell the former family home were shocked to learn she was still alive, a court heard yesterday.
John Moore and Maria Byrne (nee Moore) said they were sure their stepmother had died when they discovered a death certificate in the name of a Maureen Moore in 2000.
Their stepmother, Maureen Moore of Laburnum Square, North Road, Drogheda, Co Louth, claims they used her absence from the country to get the cert and sell the house at Mount Tallant Avenue, Harold's Cross, Dublin, for €254,000.
The siblings told the court yesterday they heard nothing from her after she left the family home in 1982. Their efforts to find her did not yield any results and they were shocked when they learned in August 2006 that she was still alive.
They also described their stepmother as "a bully" who "drank a lot", deserted them and said she was not forced to leave the home by a violent husband as she has claimed.
They said their father was not a violent or unpleasant person but a gentleman and a great father.
In her High Court proceedings, Mrs Moore (71) claims her stepchildren unjustly and fraudulently enriched themselves by selling the property.
She alleges that, after the death of husband John Moore senior, she was entitled to be the full owner of the property.
She claims she had to leave the house in the 1980s because of her husband's violent behaviour and then lived abroad for several years before returning to find the house had been sold.
The case is against John Moore of Woodstock Park, Knocklyon, and Maria Byrne, Oakdale Crescent, Ballycullen, both Dublin, as well as against Nadine Chetty who bought the house from them in 2002 but is now living in the Middle East.
The claims are denied.
John Moore (43) told the court he was "delighted" and "quite relieved" after Maureen left their home in 1982. Mrs Moore was a bully who could be physically abusive and engaged in mental torture, he said.
As a result of her behaviour he slept with a knife under his pillow, he added.
He told the court that, after his father died in 1996, efforts were made to locate Maureen Moore. A solicitor acting on his behalf wrote letters and a friend who worked as a private investigator also made inquiries.
Under cross examination, he said that it was "not true" that he had acted fraudulently or tried to "pass off" the death certificate of a woman named Maureen Moore in order to be in a position to sell the house.
Genuine
He said it was his genuine belief that the Maureen Moore who died in 1995 was his stepmother. There had been no contact since she left, and he said it was not unreasonable to believe she was dead because she drank a lot of alcohol. He agreed that the garda fraud squad had interviewed him over the matter.
Maria Byrne (41) told the court Maureen's relationship with their late father was "very unstable" and living with her was a "like walking on glass".
She said that after a search she conducted she had "no doubt" that the person who died in 1995 was their stepmother as she believed the age and occupation of the deceased matched that of their stepmother.
The case, before Mr Justice Roderick Murphy, continues.
- Tim Healy
Irish Independent
