The lead singer of the Cranberries, Dolores O'Riordan, emerged triumphant from a Dublin courtroom yesterday after a judge largely dismissed a lawsuit brought by her former nanny.
The Irish pop star and her husband, Don Burton, were ordered to pay Joy Fahy €1,500 (£1,050) to compensate for clothes "mislaid" when she unexpectedly bolted from her job as O'Riordan's nanny in 1999.
But the judge ruled Ms Fahy had failed to prove her more serious allegations that Mr Burton had falsely imprisoned her or that the couple had been in breach of contract.
Ms Fahy claimed Mr Burton had promised in a one-year verbal contract to give her a down payment on an unspecified Dublin flat and a new Jeep if she agreed to care for their son, Taylor.
But High Court Justice Jonathan Quirk ruled she was entitled to neither perk, nor to her claim for €12,700 (£9,000) in unpaid salary for what amounted to barely two months' work. He said in a case involving polarised claims but little hard evidence, he could not tell who was telling the truth and who - if anybody - was lying.
"The fact that the witnesses have different recollections of events that occurred five years ago is not particularly surprising," he said. "This does not mean they are necessarily being dishonest."
The judge will rule on the issue of costs tomorrow.
