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Company in court following death of golf ball diver

BBC Antrim Crown Court building seen from the other side of the road that runs outside it. Three buildings can be seen behin an iron fence and small stone wall. The entrance to the courthouse is to the right, with a tall lampost to the left.BBC
Best appeared before Antrim Crown Court on Tuesday

A company director and his now defunct firm have pleaded guilty to two health and safety offences after the death of a man who died while diving for golf balls.

Tom Kieran Best, 38, the sole director of Golf Balls NI Ltd., with an address at Finvoy Road in Ballymoney, admitted it had failed to ensure the health and safety of non-employees on 26 October 2021.

Appearing at Antrim Crown Court on Tuesday, Best also admitted a further health and safety charge that he, as sole director, had failed to conduct his business in a manner that protected non-employees from the risk of harm.

Best was released on continuing bail to appear again on 10 December.

Google The front of the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick, with a fountain in the foregound and a small roundabout. The hotel's entrance can be seen under a sign of the hotels name written in blue lettering.Google
The man was diving for golf balls in a lake on the grounds of the Hilton hotel in Templepatrick

None of the alleged facts were opened in court today, but on 26 October 2021, emergency services were tasked to the scene at the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick following reports that a man had entered the water.

It is understood the man, aged in his 50s and who has not been named, had been diving for golf balls in the golf course lake.

Company now 'defunct'

A judge agreed to a prosecution application that a further six charges be marked as left on the books.

Three of those charges are against the company, and a further three against Best as company director.

They include breaches of diving at work regulations, failing to plan a diving project and failing to comply with diving regulations.

A defence solicitor suggested the court would want a pre-sentence report before the case could be dealt with.

He revealed Golf Balls NI Ltd. “is essentially a defunct company now,” and said there may be a longer than usual delay as Best “works for long periods of time off shore".