A Range Rover which has been in a garda compound in Donegal for two-and-a-half years despite being bought legitimately from a reputable dealer has finally been returned to the buyer.<\/p>\n
The matter has been before Ballyshannon District Court over the last few years, including special sittings where a garda travelled from Dublin. <\/p>\n
However, at the most recent court sitting in Ballyshannon on March 20, Judge Ciaran Liddy ruled that the vehicle, which has significantly depreciated since being impounded, be returned. <\/p>\n
The court heard that in 2023, Gary O\u2019Brien bought the 191-registered Land Rover Range Rover for \u20ac70,000 in Dublin. It was purchased from a well-established and reputable high end car dealer which carried several million euro worth of stock at any given time. The sum of \u20ac70,000 consisted of a trade-in of the applicant\u2019s own vehicle along with \u20ac40,000. <\/p>\n
Shortly afterwards, the Range Rover was seized due to being the subject of a criminal investigation. It has since been sitting in a compound at the rear of Ballyshannon Garda Station.<\/p>\n
His solicitor Gerry McGovern said: \u201cMr O\u2019Brien was told it was a suspected stolen vehicle. <\/p>\n
\u201cI always thought if you traded with a respectable garage that this type of thing did not happen. <\/p>\n
It is not like buying a car from the side of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr McGovern told the court that his client sought the return of the vehicle by way of a police property application.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was told he did not have title to the vehicle,\u201d said the solicitor. \u201cIt has been before two judges. It is wasting away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The owner, Mr O\u2019Brien said he had spoken to a mechanic about the current condition of the vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is worth half what it was when I bought it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would probably cost about \u20ac5,000 to \u20ac7,000 to get it on the road after being there without moving for two-and-a-half years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr McGovern outlined that an investigating garda had travelled from Dublin and given evidence at two special sittings relating to the vehicle. It became the subject of a criminal investigation when a woman made a complaint to garda\u00ed that her vehicle had been stolen. It is alleged that, having become estranged from her boyfriend, he had changed vehicle registration to his name and sold it. <\/p>\n
Previous judges had adjourned the case to allow time for the garda investigation to take place.<\/p>\n
Mr McGovern stressed: \u201cThe only police property application is this one. The only registered papers are these ones. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a high end vehicle that has been wasting away. \u201cIt is going to drop another \u20ac5,000 or \u20ac10,000 in the next couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inspector Tony Boyle said he appreciated the applicant\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have tried to contact the garda in Dublin,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Judge Ciaran Liddy ruled: \u201cThe court must allow a reasonable time for an investigation to take place. This is going on for two-and-a-half years.\u201d<\/p>\n
He granted the application to return the vehicle to Mr O\u2019Brien. <\/p>\n
Seized Range Rover returned to owner only worth half the value was last modified: March 25th, 2026 by Staff Writer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Range Rover which has been in a garda compound in Donegal for two-and-a-half years despite being bought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-364561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}