Keane jailed for 10 years

A NOTORIOUS feud family member and a close associate have both been jailed for 10 years for having a powerful handgun that was loaded and primed for use.

Liam Keane, aged 24, of Singland Gardens, Ballysimon, and Greg Crawford, aged 21, of St Mary’s Park, both pleaded guilty to having a Glock semi-automatic on May 4 last.

Limerick Circuit Court heard yesterday that 11 days before the offence, the same gun had been used in a feud shooting.

After a surveillance operation, Keane tried to speed through a Garda checkpoint at around 1.45am on Athlunkard Road, Corbally.

He was driving a powerful Mazda car that had been stolen in Dublin.

Keane was forced to a halt after colliding with a Garda patrol car during a high-speed chase.

Keane was wearing latex gloves while Crawford had ordinary gloves. The gun was found on the floor of the car.

Ballistic tests showed it had been used in a feud attack 11 days earlier when an associate of the McCarthy-Dundon gang was shot and wounded at Ballinacurra Weston.

John O’Sullivan, prosecuting, said Keane and Crawford had the gun for a “serious sinister purpose of an immediate nature”.

Det Garda Thelma Watters said that when the car was forced to a halt, the pair had been on a route which could have taken them to Moyross where a member of a feud gang lived.

Judge Carroll Moran said that while it was not suggested either accused had been involved in the earlier feud shooting, the provenance of the gun and its recent history had to be relevant and taken into consideration.

The garda view was that the shooting, prior to the arrests, was related to a well-known Limerick feud which has led to loss of life.

When asked by gardaí why the gangs hate each other, Keane replied: “That’s life. That’s the way it goes.”

Admitting he had a problem with heroin, Keane denied he was on his way to assassinate somebody. “I was caught in Corbally. All my enemies are on the other side of town. I wasn’t going to shoot anybody.”

Keane told gardaí he picked up the loaded Glock in a field “out the Ballysimon way” and had it because of the way his uncle, Kieran Keane, “ended up”.

Kieran Keane had been abducted and murdered by the McCarthy-Dundon gang in January 2003.

Passing sentence, Judge Moran said an aggravating factor was the fact that the gun was loaded and ready for immediate use. The gun had also been used in a feud-related shooting days previously.

Keane was wearing latex gloves which would have frustrated the gathering of forensic evidence.

He said the maximum sentence for having unlawful possession of a gun and ammunition was 14 years and both were entitled to a four-year discount for pleading guilty. Keane was given a concurrent three-year sentence for driving a stolen car.

Leave to appeal was refused.