Dundon trial hears of ‘set up’ claims

The trial of two Limerick brothers charged with threatening to kill four people has been adjourned until tomorrow after their defence team sought further disclosure on an alleged attempt by a key prosecution witness to “set up” one of the accused.

The Special Criminal Court trial of Wayne Dundon, aged 33, and his brother John, aged 29 opened briefly in Dublin but was adjourned after barristers for both men sought disclosure on telephone conversations held between one of the alleged victims and another man.

Wayne Dundon, of Lenihan Avenue, Limerick, pleaded not guilty to five counts of making threats to kill and two counts of obstructing the course of justice at addresses in Limerick City over a seven-month period between 2010 and 2011.

He denied threatening to kill three members of a family in March 2011, and not guilty to threatening to kill two people in Sept 2010.

He also pleaded not guilty to the intimidation of potential prosecution witnesses with the intention of obstructing the course of justice.

John Dundon, with an address at Hyde Road, Limerick, pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill a woman and her mother in Apr 2011.

Padraig Dwyer SC, for Wayne Dundon, told the non-jury court that he was seeking further disclosure in relation to an alleged threat made by one of the alleged threat targets to “set up” his client.

He asked the court to order the release of as many as 100 audio tapes recording the telephone conversations of the woman and another man between Oct 2010 and Apr 2011.

Justice Paul Butler ordered that the tapes of these phone conversations, which are held by the governors of four different prisons, be released to the DPP for further disclosure to the defence.

He said the matter was “entirely unsatisfactory” as both the accused men and a large number of witnesses had been brought to the Special Criminal Court for the opening of the trial at “enormous cost”.

He remanded the Dundons in custody until tomorrow.