Company fires nude sleepwalker

2007-11-10 10:45

Dublin - Kenmare Resources shareholders voted on Friday to dismiss the Irish mining firm's deputy chairperson, Donal Kinsella, after an incident in which he appeared naked outside a colleague's bedroom.

Kinsella has denied wrongdoing, pointing to an investigation by the firm's lawyers which concluded he was sleepwalking when he appeared at the door of company secretary Deirdre Corcoran during a visit to the firm's Moma mine in Mozambique in May.

"The Moma incident involved Mr Donal Kinsella opening Deirdre Corcoran's bedroom door on three separate occasions during the night and appearing naked at her door," a Kenmare spokesperson said.

"This was both unpleasant and distressing for Ms Corcoran."

Kinsella was removed as chairperson of Kenmare's audit committee after Corcoran asked not to be left alone with him in meetings but the board later moved to dismiss him from the company altogether after he began legal proceedings.

"His fellow directors believe Mr Kinsella's continued participation as a director of the company is untenable and compromises the board's ability to act as a unitary body," Kenmare Chairperson Charles Carvill told shareholders on Friday.

Kinsella told the meeting he had done no wrong and accused the company of humiliating him and damaging his family by unnecessarily publicising the events in Mozambique.

- Reuters