Brothers made threats to kill family members

Two Limerick brothers have been jailed by the Special Criminal Court for making threats to kill three members of the same family.

Wayne Dundon was jailed for six years and his brother John Dundon was jailed for five and a half years for making threats to members of the Collins family yesterday.

Mr Justice Paul Butler said that in Wayne Dundon’s case, the threat was more serious because it involved a threat to two offspring.

The brothers remained impassive when the sentences were handed down.

The court ordered both sentences to date from Apr 11, 2011, when the brothers were taken into custody.

The Dundons were convicted last month of making the threats after a trial.

John Dundon, aged 29, of Hyde Rd, Limerick, was convicted of threatening to kill April Collins, aged 24, at Hyde Rd on the weekend of Apr 3/4, 2011.

Wayne Dundon, aged 33, of Lenihan Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, was convicted of threatening Alice Collins that he would kill or cause serious harm to her sons Gareth and Jimmy Collins, at Hyde Avenue, on Sep 30, 2010.

He was also found guilty of the intimidation of potential prosecution witnesses Alice and April Collins with the intention of obstructing the course of justice at the same address on the same date. He was sentenced to a four years concurrent sentence for these offences.

The trial heard mother-of-three April Collins was in a relationship with Gerard Dundon, a brother of the accused men, for eight years until late 2010.

There was evidence that the catalyst for the threats was an attack on the home of Alice Collins by four women, including John Dundon’s wife Ciara, on Sep 30, 2010.

Ms Collins said she called for gardaí to come to the scene and that, as a community garda arrived, she heard Wayne Dundon ask: “Why are the guards following her in to her house?”

The court heard sometime after 8pm that night, Wayne Dundon walked in to Alice Collins sitting room in a “very agitated state” and said his brother John was not happy and would “hunt people down” if his wife Ciara went to jail.

Alice Collins said that Wayne Dundon asked her if her son Jimmy went to a certain pub every weekend before telling her John Dundon would “give some fool ten grand” to kill Jimmy.

She said Wayne Dundon then told her: “Well, Gareth will stand in front of me and he’ll look at my face and this will be the last face he’ll see because I’m going to kill him myself.”

As he got up to leave the house, Alice Collins said Wayne Dundon told her: “You are digging your own grave; it’s very easy to make people disappear.”

She said the threats put the “fear of God” in to her, that she was “still not right” and “only living on nerves” since the incident.

April Collins in evidence said that she was at home on Hyde Rd on Mar 25, 2011, when a “very angry” Wayne Dundon entered her home and threatened to kill her, her brother Gareth and her mother Alice Collins.

She said that on Apr 3, 2011, she was sitting watching TV when someone began “bating” down the door. She said she looked out her door and could see John Dundon through glass panels on the front door shouting: “I know you’re in there you tramp, I want to see my nephews, when I get you, I am going to fucking kill you.”

Ms Collins said she retired to bed with her children later but awoke at 2am to find John Dundon standing on a shed in her back yard, while another man stood in the garden.

April Collins said that when she asked John Dundon what he was doing there, she was “terrified” to hear him reply: “We’re looking for a good place to bury your mother.”

Convicting the brothers last month, Mr Justice Butler, presiding at the three judge court, said the court had been impressed by the “entirely credible and convincing” evidence of Alice Collins and was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Wayne Dundon had intimidated and made threats against her.

He said that, with regard to the three counts against Wayne Dundon of making threats to kill on Mar 25, 2011, the court found the evidence of April Collins to be credible.

He said that the court found that the actions of John Dundon on Apr 3/4, 2011, amounted to “sinister and threatening” actions on his part, but that it would be unsafe to construe the words “we’re looking for a place to bury your mother” as a direct threat to kill Alice Collins.