Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

TWO Bulgarian women, with Europol profiles as sneak thieves, have been jailed for targeting an elderly shopper and stealing her wallet and cash from her bag as she tended to children while she shopped.

27-year-old self proclaimed DJ, Elena Kostandinova and her 22-year-old friend Penka Georgieva had only recently arrived in Bulgaria, Limerick District Court was told when they were “stuck for money” and targeted an woman in her 60s shopping in Penney’s.

Last Monday, security staff became alerted to two women acting suspiciously on the shop floor and saw that they were “operating in close proximity to shoppers”, Sgt Donal Cronin told the court.

The two were seen moving around the store and when gardai were called, CCTV footage captured one sneaking the purse from the victim’s handbag while the other provided “cover”.

The lady’s wallet contained several items including bank cards and €200 in cash. The pair were immediately arrested but only €160 was recovered.

Pleading guilty to the offence through the use of a Bulgarian interpreter, the court was told that the two women had only arrived in Ireland in “the last few days”, but no details of return flights had been given to the court.

Sarah Ryan, assigned legal aid solicitor said that it was her instruction that the two women had come to Ireland to look for work.

Elena Kostandinova said she was a DJ in Bulgaria but had infrequent earnings and Ms Georgieva was on social benefit payments of €30 per month.

However the court was told that Ms Kostandinova had previous convictions in Dublin in 2012 and 2013 for theft and another in the UK city of Bolton also in 2013. The convictions were for similar thefts and had received monetary fines in Ireland and three month suspended sentence in the UK.

Without any conviction in this jurisdiction, Judge Eugene O’Kelly was told that Ms Georgieva had a profile with Europol and previous convictions in the European Union.

Sgt Cronin outlined that Ms Georgieva had convictions in Sweden and Denmark and had been excluded from both countries. She also had convictions in Norway and was described as a “person of interest in Germany where she had come to adverse police attention”.

“This is a highly skilled and organised enterprise by these individuals who were highly proficient sneak thieves actively committing crime throughout Europe”, he said.

Judge O’Kelly asked what connection the pair had to Ireland and when Ms Ryan outlined that they had none, the district court judge questioned as to “why are they coming her so, one has previous convictions in Dublin and the UK and the other has a Europol profile that has her excluded from half of Scandinavia”, he said.

Ms Ryan conceded that it was a “low and mean type of offence” and that they were “stuck for money on the day” and thus resorted to this.

In jailing the two women, Judge O’Kelly said that despite the “quick apprehension of garda Sinead Galvin and her colleague, I’m told that there is still outstanding property. This is an organised enterprise where the their sole purpose is to commit offences. They knew exactly what they were doing”

Penka Georgieva was jailed for four months and Elena Kostandinova was jailed for five months.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

A 22-year-old woman was recovering after she was stabbed in the head in Limerick city centre last Tuesday while she sat in her car.

Henry Street Gardaí are seeking witnesses to the incident that happened shortly after noon on Dominic Street.

The woman received extensive lacerations to the head and neck when a man attacked her with a kitchen knife.

She was taken to University Hospital Limerick but her wounds were not believed to be life threatening. Gardaí are looking for a man who fled in the direction of Parnell Street wearing a navy tracksuit with a light blue top and white baseball cap.

Anyone with information should contact Henry Street Garda Station on 061 212400.

FOUR men, including one notorious Limerick criminal remain in custody this Friday following their arrest on Thursday in connection with a violent assault where masked men beat and stabbed their victim last February.

The notorious Limerick criminal was arrested in connection with a violent disorder incident in Limerick earlier this year.

The 36-year-old who has served time in prison in England was among four men arrested in relation to an incident in which another man suffered stab wounds to his head.

During the attack, the victim was set upon by a group of men wearing balaclavas at Vale Avenue, Carew Park, Limerick on February 13 last.

A part of the investigation Gardai arrested four men in a planned operation on the southside of the city this Thursday.

In a twist, the 33-year-old victim of the violent assault was also arrested on suspicion of withholding information in relation to the men that attacked him.

The men, who remain in custody, are aged between 17 and 36 and are being held and questioned under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

€60,000 worth of cocaine that had been ingested in the form of pellets by two men was detected by “Ollie” the sniffer dog at Shannon Airport in Easter Sunday last.

Officials say that during routine passenger profiling at Shannon Airport, Officers from Revenue’s Customs Service seized drugs, suspected to be cocaine, with an estimated street value of approximately €60,000.

Following positive reactions from Revenue’s sniffer dog, Ollie, the two Irish men in their 40s were questioned by after they disembarked a flight from Spain.

The drugs were concealed in approximately 100 pellets ingested by the two men.

As a result, both men were arrested by An Garda Síochána and taken to hospital where the ingested drugs were passed under medical supervision.

Officials say that investigations are ongoing.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

All four males arrested in connection with a violent attack in Limerick last February have been released without charge following their arrest on Thursday.

A 36-year-old notorious criminal was amongst the four who also included the 33-year-old victim of the attack which saw three masked men attack a man on February 13 last in Carew Park.

The victim, who received stab wounds and injuries to the head, had been arrested on suspicion of withholding information while the 36-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of orchestrating the attack.

Gardai investigating the matter released all four without charge and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Andrew Carey | andrew@limerickpost.ie

EVIL entered the lives of the Collins family on April 9, 2009 when 34 year-old Roy Collins was murdered in broad daylight outside his Limerick amusement arcade at the Roxboro shopping centre.

On May 5, 2010, James Dillon, a 24-year-old man of no fixed abode, admitted firing the shot that killed Roy Collins a year earlier. Gardaí found him hiding under a bed in Ballinacurra and, after 26 interviews and a visit from his grandfather, Dillion pleaded guilty on the day his trial was due to begin at the Central Criminal Court.

He was jailed for life.

This Tuesday, Roy Collins’ father Steve will have to steer his family through another court ordeal when two men go on trial for his son’s murder.

Wayne Dundon (35) of Lenihan Avenue, Prospect and Nathan Killeen (24) of Hyde Road, Prospect – whose sister is married to Wayne Dundon’s brother John – are both charged with murdering Roy Collins.

Gardai have linked the murder to an incident in 2004 when Annabel Dundon, then 14 and a member of the McCarthy Dundon family, was refused entry to Brannigans pub, which was owned by Steve Collins.

Prosecutors had previously told the Central Criminal Court that Ryan Lee, a first cousin of Roy Collins, refused the girl entry. Wayne Dundon called to the pub and threatened to kill Lee by cocking his finger and saying “F*** you, you’re dead”.

He was later convicted of threatening to kill Ryan Lee and served five years of a seven year sentence and Gardaí claim that Roy Collins’ murder is linked to members of his family giving evidence against Dundon.

After the murder Steve Collins was placed under Garda protection but he’s also had to live with the belief that Dillion was just the hired gun that carried out a “cowardly and unforgiveable act”.

In March 2012, the burden finally became too much for the Collins family and, on what was described as a “sad day for Limerick, they left the city to set up a new life under the witness protection scheme.

“It is too much. Everywhere we go, the guards have to go with us. It is not a normal life,” Mr Collins said before he boarded an Aer Lingus flight with his wife Carmel, their adult son Steve Jnr and daughter Leeann.

The State bought the family pub in Roxboro with the proceeds helping the family set up abroad. The Limerick Local Authorities made plans to put the property to good use in Roy’s memory and set up a Regeneration Office there.

Steve and Carmel Collins return regularly to visit their son’s grave.

It’s as far as their links to Limerick go and many locals feel that the city still owes them a debt for “speaking out”, as Independent city councillor John Gilligan puts it.

Last month Carmel Collins organised anniversary Masses, remembrance notices and visited the cemetery with extended family.

Since their arrest and remand in custody, lawyers for Dundon and Killeen have sought to delay their trial coming before the three judge non-jury court. Even the recent Garda phone recording revelations played a role in the process.

But the trial remains listed for this Tuesday as Limerick awaits the verdict of The People of Ireland versus Wayne Dundon and Nathan Killeen.

Nathan Killeen

When the trial date was set for the Dundon and Killeen Murder trial at the Special Criminal Court, the two accused men were returned to custody.

However Nathan Killeen was brought back to the courtroom for Detective Christine Bergin to charge him with the murder of James Cronin on a date unknown between April 5 and 7, 2008 at an unknown place within the state.

20 year-old Cronin was found in a shallow grave in Caledonian Park with a single gunshot wound to the head.

Killeen said “its a stitch up.”

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

IT WAS seen as one of the watershed moments of Limerick history when thousands of people took to the city streets wearing red in the memory of murdered Roy Collins.

It marked the beginning of an “up front policing” policy by the Gardaí that eventually ended the reign of Limerick’s feuding gangs.

In April 2009, Roy Collins was shot dead outside his place of work at a time when the community was already in shock over the murder of Garryowen rugby player Shane Geoghegan who was shot outside his home in a case of mistaken identity.

A month after his son was laid to rest, Steve Collins called on the people of Limerick to stand together and declare that criminal gangs and their activities would not be welcome here.

He said that the Collins family did not want Roy’s death to be in vain.

In July 2009, the then Justice Minister Dermot Ahern presented new legislation to the Dáil. The Criminal Justice (amendment) Bill 2009, was aimed to tackle the the way “gangs displayed callous disregard for human life and a brazen contempt for community”.

Offences specifically linked to organised crime were introduced to eliminate the intimidation of jurors or witnesses by gangs.

In its wake, a raft of prosecutions and convictions were levelled against the key figures on all sides of the feuding gangs as well as their foot soldiers and runners. Many of the key figures are now either dead or in prison.

Andrew Carey at the Special Criminal Court, Dublin

andrew@limerickpost.ie

THE trial of two Limerick men, Wayne Dundon and Nathan Killeen accused of the murder of businessman Roy Collins in 2009, has been adjourned at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin to allow the State disclose further recordings from the Prison Service amongst other materials that make up the prosecution case.

Amid heightened security at the specially designed court buildings, the two accused arrived to the Courts of Criminal Justice at the Phoenix Park under a garda and army escort where they were brought to the custody area ahead of this Tuesday morning’s sitting.

In a packed court room, rank and file gardai including, detectives, inspectors and superintendents were present along with members of the Collins family including Steve Collins, his wife Carmel, daughter Leeann and Ryan Lee.

Dressed in a black shirt and grey pants, 36-year-old Dundon was brought to the dock area of Court number 11 along with his co accused 24-year-old Nathan Killeen, dressed in a grey waist coat and pants, white shirt and silver tie, where they had a brief consultation with their defence teams before proceedings began.

Addressing the three judge court, senior counsels Michael O’Higgins and Sean Guerin told the court that there was now a “manageable list of disclosure material” to be furnished to the defence teams and that a “significant proportion of garda resources – almost on a full-time basis – have been assigned to deal with disclosure.”

Mr O’Higgins said there was “no complacency” on the part of the State but he did accept that there were a number of matters still outstanding.

Lawyers for Nathan Killeen said that it was “not satisfactory that matters were coming so late”, adding that they felt there was no “reality in the short term to the case going on”.

Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley, together with Judge Margaret Heneghan and Judge Ann Ryan said that the court appreciated the amount of work being done in relation to the trial advancing.

The opening of the trial was adjourned and an earlier court order was extended for the Prison Service to disclose recordings made, between a range of agreed dates, from garda stations to potential witnesses who were in custody at the time.

Mr O’Higgins said that he would hope that the trial could open on Thursday next and hear from some preparatory witnesses but added that no “controversial evidence” would be heard before the May Bank Holiday weekend.

Ms Justice O’Malley said that the court, which normally sits Tuesday to Friday, would also sit on Mondays once the trial opened to allow the case progress within the proposed timeframe.

Dundon and Killeen were returned to custody pending the opening of the trail next Thursday.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

A SYRIAN Kurd who was looking for food and accommodations at a Limerick city hostel smashed two CCTV cameras with a vacuum cleaner when he was refused admission and claims he was told to sleep on the streets.

Gardai responded to a call to a city centre hostel on March 21 after Jamil Jaffar damaged the cameras and a glass partition.

They were told that he had entered the premises demanding food and money and place to sleep, although he was supposed to be in another hostel in County Limerick at the time.

Defending solicitor John Herbert said that Mr Jaffar claimed he was told to “sleep on the streets when he was refused entry to the hostel.

A second charge related to damaging property at the dining hall of Mount Trenchard hostel in Foynes on April 15 last when it was claimed that he caused the damage “for no apparent reason”.

Mr Herbert explained that Mr Jaffar felt “targeted” when he came to the dining hall for breakfast and there was no one there to help”.

He was resident in Ireland for the last three months and “has not enjoyed his time here”. He had been sleeping rough in the city for a period and, with a €19 allowance, he was not allowed work and this added to his frustration.

“He accepts that he was wrong and is looking to be deported”, Mr Herbert added.

Stating that he had no jurisdiction to deport the defendant, Judge Aeneas McCarthy imposed a three month prison sentence for the incident at the Limerick city hostel, but suspended it for a period of two years.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

A 25-YEAR-old driver is to face trial at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court over the death of one of his passengers after a road traffic collision on the outskirts of Limerick almost two years ago.

Dennis Brennan of Rearcross on the Limerick/Tipperary border is charged with dangerous driving causing death of 17 year old Kieran Quigley, also of Rearcross, who was sitting his Leaving Certificate exams at St Mary’s secondary school in Newport.

On June 9, 2012, it is alleged that Brennan was driving his Renault car at the Grange Cross junction with the main Limerick to Tipperary Road shortly after 9pm when he was involved in the fatal accident.

The driver of other car involved in the collision was travelling towards Limerick with his wife and two children.

The occupants of both cars required medical treatment but Ciarain Quigley, who received more extensive serious injuries, died at the Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle two days after the collision.

At Limerick District Court last week, Dennis Brennan was served with the Book of Evidence outlining the State’s case on the charge of dangerous driving causing death.

The State also allege a number of other matters including valid insurance, licence particulars and intoxication but the Director of Public Prosecutions has elected to deal with them in the lower courts by way of summary disposal.

The matter was adjourned to the next sittings of the Circuit Criminal Court with the other summary allegations adjourned to July 9.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

A LIMERICK man convicted of being a member of the IRA has been allowed travel to Lithuania on a family holiday while awaiting sentence by the Special Criminal Court.

Thomas McMahon (32) of Ros Fearna, Murroe pleaded guilty to being a member of an illegal organisation when he was arrested with another man in February 2013 after Gardaí seized a cache of suspected rocket launchers in Cahir, County Tipperary.

After McMahon pleaded guilty last April, sentencing was adjourned until June 27 and he was released on bail on condition he signed on at his local garda station and surrendered his passport. A €20,000 independent surety, made up his father’s life savings, was also lodged in court.

Last Thursday at the Special Criminal Court, defence counsel Michael Bowman sought a variation on the bail conditions to allow his client “travel to Lithuania for one last time with his wife and young family”.

Mr Bowman added that his client was well aware of the court’s position on varying the of bail of a convicted man and had a very “realistic view as to the likely outcome of the case”.

Objecting to the application, Detective Inspector John Dollard said that given the fact that Gardaí could not supervise the conditions of bail, McMahon was considered a flight risk and there was a fear he would not return to Ireland.

The three judge non-jury court allowed the application to vary bail and said Thomas McMahon could temporarily obtain his passport to allow him travel to Lithuania for his two week family holiday.

He was ordered to return his passport to Gardaí when he returns from holiday and to appear in court on June 27 next for sentencing.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

A MAN on trial for the murder of Roy Collins has been given permission to attend his mother’s funeral later this week.

Lawyers for Nathan Killeen, with an address a on Hyde Road, made an application before the Special Criminal Court this Tuesday morning that he be allowed attend the removal and the court was told that the Prison Service were in a position to provide the escort later this week.

The body of Killeen’s mother Susan, was recovered from the Canal at Locke Quay in Limerick in the early hours of last Friday morning.

Emergency services together with gardai and rescue teams recovered the body at 1am last Friday after they responded to the alert of distressing calls heard in the area.

Nathan Killeen, along with Wayne Dundon from Lenihan Avenue in Limerick, have both denied the murder of Roy Collins when he was shot dead at the Coin Castle Amusement Arcade on April 9, 2009 last.

It is alleged that Killeen was the getaway driver for another man previously convicted and that Wayne Dundon was the organiser and “director” of the hit.

Presiding judge of the three judge court, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley, this morning expressed the court’s condolences to Mr Killeen on the loss of his mother.

The three judge non jury court was told that the Prison Service could facilitate the supervised escort.

Counsel for the defence expressed their gratitude on behalf of the accused man for their compassion and the trial was adjourned until next Monday.

THE man charged with being the getaway driver in the murder of Roy Collins has been escorted to Limerick under armed guard to visit the remains of his deceased mother ahead of her funeral mass.

24-year-old Nathan Killeen is on trial for the killing of the Limerick business man in 2009 with Wayne Dundon and the day after his trial opened at the Special Criminal Court, the body of Nathan Killeen’s 55-year-old mother, Susan, was tragically recovered from the canal at Locke Quay in Limerick.

As the heavy armed convoy arrived at Cross’s funeral home shortly before 2pm this Wednesday, convicted criminal and brother of Killeen’s co-accused 26-year-old Ger Dundon arrived to pay his respects to the family.

Amid heightened security, a navy unmarked prison van accompanied by an armed unit of the RSU and an unmarked detective car brought Killeen to a gated area near the funeral home.

Killeen was taken from the van in the yard adjacent to the funeral home and brought to family members within the building. His mother’s remains lay in repose before being brought to the family home on Ash Avenue in John Carew Park ahead of the funeral mass on Thursday at the Holy Family Church in Southill.

Dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, 26-year-old Ger Dundon who was released from jail in January, was at the funeral home just as the prison van pulled up with Nathan Killeen shortly before 2pm.

The Garda RSU marked Volvo estate car blocked access to the road outside the funeral home for the duration of Killeen’s 15 minute visit.

Inside, members of Killeen’s family including Ciara, mother of two children with convicted murderer John Dundon, together with Linda Casey and extended family, briefly met with the 24-year-old.

Large floral tributes were brought to the funeral home before Susan Killeen’s remains were brought by a black hearse to the family home.

This is the second time Ciara has lost a family member in tragic circumstances.

In 2007 Nathan’s twin brother Gavin also died tragically.

Susan Killeen, whose maiden name was Casey, was originally from Hyde Road in Limerick but recently had an an address in Caherdavin, Limerick.

After she was found, Emergency services together with Gardai and rescue teams recovered the body at 1am after they responded to the alert of distress calls heard in the area.

Efforts were made to resuscitate her and she was taken to University Hospital Limerick where she was pronounced dead but Gardai not treating her death as suspicious.

Her funeral mass will take place at midday tomorrow at the Holy Family Church in Southill.

Last Tuesday, the three – all female – judge Special Criminal Court granted an application made by lawyers for Nathan Killeen that he be allowed attend his mother’s removal after they conveyed condolences to the 24-year-old standing trial.

Nathan Killeen, along with Wayne Dundon from Lenihan Avenue in Limerick, have both denied the murder of Roy Collins who was shot dead at the Coin Castle Amusement Arcade on April 9, 2009 last.

It is alleged that Killeen was the getaway driver for another man previously convicted and that Wayne Dundon was the organiser and “director” of the hit.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

IT WAS once the most famous dish associated with prisoners but the plain bowl of porridge must now make room to accommodate other such menu items as fresh fruit, cereals and muesli as inmate meals get a boost.

Ice cream, pasta bolognaise and chicken supreme are just some of the tasty treats served to murderers, high profile gang leaders and rapist prisoners in the some of the countries high security prisons it has emerged.

In figures and data recently obtained, the Irish Prison Service annual food bill for 2013 was in excess of €8.3m.

During one Sunday in March, Limerick prisoners who have been on remand or serving sentences at some of the detention facilities around the country were served chicken supreme, with the skin on, a serving of pepper sauce, turnips and roast potatoes were followed by a tasty bowl of ice cream.

Other dishes on the menu that week included breakfast items of cereals and fresh fruit, pasta bolognaise with mixed vegetables, cheese salad rolls and bun burgers with coleslaw for tea.

In 2013, the annual cost to house each of the 4,158 inmates was €65,000 per prisoner.

LAWYERS for a 37-year-old Limerick man who sexually abused a six year old boy in a wooded area during the summer of 1993 have asked a sentencing judge to consider applying the probation act and not record a conviction against him.

The now 37-year-old man pleaded guilty at Central Criminal Court to attempted rape on the basis of full details of the offending being heard by the court.

Over the weekend, Mr Justice Paul Carney has been asked not to record the conviction as the offender is married and living in America.

Isobel Kennedy SC said that a conviction would prevent him returning to his US home.

After hearing the submission by the defence counsel, Mr Justice Carney asked: “If I apply the Probation Act what do you think every rape crisis centre and tabloid newspaper in the country is going to do?”

“And they’re not going to go after you Ms Kennedy,” he continued.

Prosecuting counsel Maurice Coffey BL read from the complainant’s victim impact statement who wrote that he still suffers night terrors as a result of the abuse.

“He has caused an irreparable amount of damage to my life”, the victim wrote. He called his abuser “aggressive, manipulating, dominating and most of all, a predator.”

Incidents of oral rape, touching and molestation were outlined to the court by gardai. The molestation stopped in September of the same year.

Andrew Carey
at the Special Criminal Court

FORMER McCarthy Dundon gang associate, Gareth Collins who is a brother of State witness April Collins – the mother of three children with convicted criminal Ger Dundon – is to give evidence this afternoon in the trial of two men accused of the murder of Roy Collins in 2009.

Wayne Dundon (36) and Nathan Killeen (24) both deny the murder of Roy Collins on April 9, 2009.

It is alleged that Nathan Killeen was the getaway driver for the gunman and that Wayne Dundon ordered the hit Addressing the three judge, non jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin this Monday morning, prosecution counsel for the State Michael O’Higgins SC said that he had a number of witnesses to present before the court and that would take the trial up until lunch-time.

Mr O’Higgins told presiding Judge, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley that this week would be made up primarily of witnesses and evidence that made up the “meat of the case”.

Giving regard to that, Mr O’Higgins said that he intended calling Gareth Collins to give evidence in the afternoon.

This Monday morning, evidence has been heard of the first responders to the murder scene on the day Roy Collins was shot.

Steve Collins, Roy’s father, told the court that he first became aware of the shooting when a bar man from his pub came to his office and said there was a “fella bleeding next door”.

Mr Collins told the three female judges that he went next door to the Coin Castle Amusements Arcade run by his son.

Bleeding, gasping for breath and bent over on his hands and knees is how Steve Collins found his son. He noticed his back was covered in blood, a bullet and the keys of the arcade on the ground beside his son.

Steve told the barman to alert the emergency services and the gardai.

As Roy Collins gasped for breath, he told his father that he was shot and in severe pain and that he loved him. He didn’t know who shot him.

The court heard that Steve Collins stayed with his son and tried to comfort him as best he could until the ambulance crew arrived.

Gda Stephen Kelliher told the court of how he was despatched to a report of a road traffic collision at the Roxboro Shopping Centre and was the first to arrive to Roy Collins after he was flagged for assistance. He found the 35-year-old father of two bent over on his hands and knees and bleeding from an exit wound on his back.

Gardai, including gda Deirdre Foley-Collins and retired det gda Sean Lynch all told of arriving at the scene.

Detective Garda Brian O’Connor told the court of also being despatched to the scene. He also told the three judge court that two days after the shooting he reenacted what was believed to have been the getaway route taken by the gunman and his driver.

Outlining the route driving from the Roxboro Shopping Centre to Mill Lane where the burnt out 2006 Dublin registered Mercedes was found to taking flight on foot over the railway tracks to Garryglass and Hyde Road, Det Gda said hat the journey took over 13 and half minutes between driving, running and jogging.

The trial also heard from a Limerick taxi driver who picked up two girls from Broad Street on the morning of the shooting.

Phillip Earls was driving his taxi and was despatched by the office at Tower Cabs to collect two girls at an address there.

He also described how the young girls told him that he was to pick up two men at the Galvone Post Office in Roxboro Shopping Centre shortly after 11:15am.

Mr Earls said that the first man came to the back door of the taxi and opened it but closed it again and said he was “going to the loo in the Steering Wheel pub”.

A short time later, the two men arrived to the car and they left and went to Hyde Road where one man, dressed in a grey hoody and black tracksuit pants, got out and entered a house with “large black and white walls”.

The man returned and they drove to a “yellow house on Crecora Avenue with black horses heads on the pillars”.

Mr Earls said that both men got out and he drove on the O’Malley Park where he dropped off the two girls and collected his €16 fare.

Peter Slevin, a resident near Mill Lane, told the court of leaving his home on the morning of the murder and finding the burnt out Mercedes at the end of the road.

The trial, which had been adjourned last week for the funeral of Nathan Killeen’s mother to take place, continues before the three female judges of a packed Special Criminal Court where Dundon’s wife Ann and Killeen’s sister Ciara watch on from the high security gallery.

Andrew Carey at Special Criminal Court

andrew@limerickpost.ie

A MURDER trial has heard that a former McCarthy Dundon gang member was asked to be a getaway driver for a man who would “whack” Limerick businessman Steve Collins at his pub in the city over five years ago.

31 year old Gareth Keogh Collins told the court that he was approached by one of the accused men, 24-year-old Nathan Killeen and asked if he was interested in driving a car and he would get paid €20,000.

In his evidence at the special criminal court this Monday, Gareth Collins said that he was handed a phone by Killeen and Wayne Dundon was on the line enquiring how he was and if he was working.

Collins said that he was asked to drive Nathan up the road to the steering wheel pub and Nathan would go in and “whack Steve the father”, then he would drive Nathan back. It would be a “two minute job”, he was told.

The three judge non jury court heard that the 31-year-old, who has 12 months of a seven and half year prison sentence left to serve, told Dundon that he didn’t want to have anything to do with it.

Dundon, Collins said, snapped in his prison cell at Wheatfields where he was on the mobile phone, and threatened him to do the job. Collins said he didn’t want to have anything to do with it and have back the phone to Killeen.

In his continued evidence, Gareth Collins said how he first met Wayne Dundon in Cork Prison when the two were sharing a double cell together.

Collins was serving a five years sentence for possession of a gun and Dundon on remand for threatening to kill members of Steve Collins’ family.

The 31-year-old said that on the day Dundon was sentenced to ten years for the threats, the feared gangland figure cried in his cell as he spoke to his wife Ann Casey on the phone.

Collins said that Dundon said he vowed to his wife that he wouldn’t let Steve Collins and his family get away with this.

Michael O’Higgins SC for the State said that this went to the “motive of Wayne Dundon”.

Gareth Collins, in his evidence, gave further details of conversations with the accused men in the lead up to the murder and as to sightings of Nathan Killeen and James Dillon in the immediate aftermath.

Remy Farrell SC and counsel for Wayne Dundon spent the remainder of this Monday afternoon dissecting and attempting to discredit the evidence of Collins whom he said was lying.

Earlier, Steve Collins gave evidence of finding his son bent over on his hands and knees after being shot.

He told the court that his son remained conscious but was in severe pain and found it hard to breath. Roy Collins said he didn’t know who shot him.

Gardai and emergency medical staff also gave evidence of finding and treating Roy Collins before he lost consciousness and died later in hospital.

The case continues before the three female judges with Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley presiding.

Full coverage of the trial in this week’s Limerick Post.

LIMERICK City Council is seeking a court order to have a 20-year-old excluded from a local housing estate over due to their ongoing concerns over alleged criminal and anti social behaviour.

The local authority is seeking to exclude David McCarthy, 20, from the Moyross estate due to concerns over ongoing anti social behaviour but a judge has adjourned the matter pending the conclusion of criminal proceedings that have been levelled against him.

It is alleged that Mr McCarthy, who lives with his mother at Cliona Park, Moyross has been involved in shootings, assaults and incidents of criminal damage over the past 15 months.

It is also alleged he has been linked to incidents of intimidation and threats.

Seeking an exclusion order at Limerick District Court last week before Judge Eugene O’Kelly, a housing official with the local authority said an investigation was launched last year after “a large number of complaints” were received in relation to the behaviour of Mr McCarthy in one of the country’s largest local authority housing estates.

Judge Eugene O’Kelly was told that none of the residents, who contacted Limerick City Council, were willing to give evidence as they “feared retribution if their names leaked out”.

The judge was told that more than a dozen different complaints were received since January of last year and that these were all investigated.

It is alleged that Mr McCarthy was connected to a number of incidents during which shots were fired at different houses in Moyross on dates in 2013 and 2014.

Other complaints, the housing official said, related to a stabbing incident, incidents of intimidation and criminal damage.

The court was told that a number of the complainants had claimed that Mr McCarthy and another man were “using youths to sell drugs” and that those who complained were targeted.

Mr McCarthy’s solicitor Sarah Ryan said even though her client is the respondent in the case, she indicated that she wished to pursue the matter on behalf of the entire family as if the order is granted it would affect the entire family.

The court was told that in an interview with a Council official Mr McCarthy’s mother Natalie Stanners claimed her son was “being accused of all sorts because of who he is.”

When asked Ms Stanners said she had no intentions of seeking an excluding order against her son and that she would fight it all the way.

After being informed that criminal proceedings are before the courts in relation to one of the alleged incidents, Judge O’Kelly said it would unfair to adjudicate on the application for an exclusion order until the criminal matter is disposed of.

He adjourned the application to June 6 next.

Andrew Carey

andrew@limerickpost.ie

THE TRIAL of two Limerick men charged with the murder of Roy Collins over five years ago will resume today amid legal argument over voice recognition.

Wayne Dundon, 36, of Lenihan Avenue and Nathan Killeen, 24, of Hyde Road both deny any involvement in the murder of the Limerick businessman and father of two at his Coin Castle Amusement Arcade on April 9, 2009.

Roy Collins was shot in the chest by a gunman and was found bleeding profusely by his father Steve on the floor of his Roxboro based business.

Evidence has already been given by Gareth Collins, a former criminal associate of the McCarthy Dundon gang that he was offered €20,000 to act as the getaway driver for a gunman ordered to “whack Steve Collins” after members of his family gave evidence in a State prosecution that led to the 10-year imprisonment of Wayne Dundon for threats to kill.

This week, Gareth’s sister April, took the witness box the State to give her evidence.

Ms Collins, a mother of three children and former partner of Wayne Dundon’s brother Ger, said that on the date in question, she was in the hospital with one of her sons who was sick.

The three judge non jury court heard that Ms Collins received a phone call on her mobile phone while in the hospital.

However, the evidence of the witness who receives 24 hour State protection, was halted as Michael Bowman, counsel for Wayne Dundon said that a legal issue arose over voice recognition.

The court will this morning deal with the admissibility of Ms Collins’ evidence and any cross examination of the now mother of four.

On the conclusion of Ms Collins’ evidence, the State also intend on calling convicted killer Anthony “Noddy” McCarthy to the stand.

“Noddy” McCarthy, together with Dessie Dundon (then aged 20) of Hyde Road, Limerick; David “Frogs Eyes” Stanners (then aged 31) of Pineview Gardens, Moyross; James McCarthy (then aged 24) of Delmege Park, Moyross and Christopher “Smokie” Costelloe (then aged 20) of Moylish Avenue, Ballynanty Beg were all convicted of the murder of crime boss Kieran Keane and attempted murder of Owen Treacy and are serving life imprisonment.

State prosecutor Michael O’Higgins said that McCarthy will give evidence of him allegedly hearing Wayne Dundon, on the morning Roy Collins was shot, shouting on the phone in Wheatfield Prison.

He told the court that Anthony “Noddy” McCarthy will say that when he asked Dundon who he was shouting at on the phone to, Dundon will say he told “James Dillion to go down and do Collins”.

The convicted killer is also expected to say that he heard Dundon speak to his brother Dessie on the prison hallway in the wake of the murder saying that “Steve Collins thought I was joking”.

The trial resumes at the Special Criminal Court in the Courts of Criminal Justice, Dublin, before Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley presiding, with Judge Margaret Heneghan and Judge Ann Ryan and

Andrew Carey at the Special Criminal Court

APRIL Collins has denied that she was told by a garda that she would not go to prison for intimidating a witness in the wake of making statements against members of the Dundon crime family.

Giving in evidence in the trial of two Limerick men charged with the murder of Roy Collins in April 2009, Ms Collins confirmed that she spoke to gardai in April 2011, but denied that a garda told her she would not go to prison after she admitted intimidating a witness in a criminal case of her former partner, father and brother.

Wayne Dundon (36) and Nathan Killeen (24) deny the murder of Roy Collins on April 9, 2009 when the Limerick businessman was shot at his place of work by a gunman and Ms Collins was giving evidence in relation to what she recalled happened on the day of the murder.

In her previous evidence, Ms Collins said that she was in the hospital when she received a call on her mobile. She said she was there with her sick son around the time of the murder. Legal argument dominated the conclusion of her evidence in relation to voice recognition. The court is to rule on that aspect at a later time during the trial.

In today’s evidence, the mother of four, three of which are with the brother of one of the accused Ger Dundon, said that she continued to breach road traffic laws after she was banned from driving and had a three-year suspended prison sentence hanging over her.

Michael Bowman BL for Wayne Dundon outlined to Ms Collins her pattern of offending and convictions in the wake of “making certain statements to gardai” and asked the witness if she recalled the court dates and their outcomes.

Ms Collins, said that she was before the count “so many times for road offences”, she couldn’t remember them all.

However, in cross examination, Ms Collins denied to Mr Michael Bowman BL for Wayne Dundon that she was “taking the mickey out of the system” and that her lack of memory in relation to her court appearances was in “stark contrast to the minute detail given” surrounding the day of the murder.

Mr Bowman further put it to Ms Collins that it was a “coincidence” and something “remarkable” that she never served a day of her three year suspended sentence despite having the “guts of 30 road traffic offences before the courts a short time after the serious threat of prison was handed down”.

The mother of four said that she was punished for what she did and said “I was given what I was given”.

Ms Collins denied that entering into the court bond to be of good behaviour was a “joke” and denied that a garda called to her home and said that she wouldn’t go to jail over the witness intimidation offence.

The court was shown CCTV footage of activities in the area near the home of Ms Collins parents on the morning of the murder before breaking for lunch.
The trial, before the three judge non-jury court is to continue later today with evidence from convicted murderer Anthony Noddy McCarthy.