A jury at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court has found a 49-year-old man not guilty on three counts of threatening to kill a Galway businessman on dates between 1 January 2012 and 28 February 2014.
David Corbett, with an address at St Clerans, Craughwell, Co Galway, was also cleared on a fourth count of harassing Ian Quinn in the Craughwell area on dates between 10 March 2012 and 31 July 2015.
During the two week trial, the court heard about escalating disagreements between Mr Corbett and Mr Quinn that culminated in a garda investigation in 2015.
The dispute centred around boundaries and access routes to St Clerans, a Georgian manor in Craughwell.
After the verdict Mr Corbett, accompanied by his wife Lorraine, thanked the jury for finding him not guilty on all four counts and said he was overjoyed and hugely relieved at the outcome.
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Mr Quinn, the founder of medical devices firm Creganna, purchased the property as a family home in 2012, along with 43 acres of land.
St Clerans was formerly owned by film director John Huston and later sold to American actor Merv Griffin in 1997.
Mr Corbett lives on land adjoining the property, while his mother also owns a separate house nearby.
Matters came to a head after a private security firm, Risk Management International (RMI), was employed by Mr Quinn.
It carried out an investigation, interviewed witnesses and presented its findings on a USB memory stick to Garda Superintendent Kevin Gately in August 2015.
The court heard how three witnesses gave evidence that Mr Corbett had made statements to them which led them to believe that he intended to kill or cause serious harm to Mr Quinn.
In his closing remarks yesterday, Counsel for the State, Patrick Reynolds, told jurors that Mr Corbett was a bully, whose actions were fuelled by jealousy.
He said the case was not a boundary dispute but one that centred on allegations of criminal wrongdoing.
Bernard Madden SC for Mr Corbett said the case was the most unusual he had ever been involved in and that several aspects were disturbing.
He focused on evidence gathered by the private investigation company for Mr Quinn, which formed the basis of the initial complaint to gardaí.
Mr Madden said Mr Quinn had the resources and contacts needed to hire RMI to carry out an investigation, which essentially meant he was able to secure a private prosecution.
He said statements from Mr Quinn and Supt Gately in the book of evidence provided to his client had no reference to the involvement of RMI or to the USB stick with the findings from that probe.
There were no notes relating to the garda investigation until this came to light.
He said this was simply outrageous and that it would be "extremely worrying for democracy" if the jury gave this conduct its imprimatur.
Mr Madden said the prosecution case was a complete and utter fabrication and his client had been living with his "neck under the boot of Mr Quinn" since he purchased St Clerans.
Judge Eoin Garavan said it had been a robust case, with a lot of evidence and detail and substantial allegations on both sides.
