Ennis hitman trial: Witness felt 'intimidated' by gardaí

A witness in the trial of a Clare woman and a Las Vegas poker dealer accused of conspiring to kill her partner and his two sons has said he felt intimidated and in shock when being interviewed by gardaí, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Ms Sharon Collins (aged 45), with an address at Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road and Mr Essam Eid (aged 52), an Egyptian man with a Las Vegas address Ennis have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kill P.J., Robert and Niall Howard between August 12 006 and September 26 2006. Ms Collins also denies hiring Mr Eid to kill the three men.

Mr Eid denies demanding €100,000 from Mr Robert Howard to cancel the contracts. He also denies breaking into the Howard family business at Westgate Business Park and stealing two computers, some computer cables, a digital clock and a poster of old Irish money and then handling the stolen items.

Builder, Mr John Keating told Mr Tom O’Connell SC prosecuting, that a female garda told him she would have to put him in handcuffs after he had given evidence earlier in the trial that provided a partial alibi for Ms Collins.

Mr Keating had given evidence on June 5 when he gave evidence under cross examination that he had been with Ms Collins for a substantial portion of the morning of August 16 2006, a key date in the prosecution case.

The prosecution say that this was the date that [e-mail] and [e-mail] struck a deal to kill PJ, Robert and Niall Howard. The jury have heard that there was significant email and phone traffic relating to the plot that day.

Mr Keating told Mr Michael Bowman BL, counsel for Ms Collins, in his earlier evidence that he had spent the morning with Ms Collins, discussing various jobs that needed to be done at the house she shared with Mr Howard and also discussed putting an extension on her mother’s house.

He said Ms Collins did stop off once at the offices of Downes & Howard, the family business, but only stayed a few minutes.

However, he agreed with Mr O’Connell that he had not told gardai about this meeting when he gave them his initial statement. He said that he was contacted by Ms Collins elder son, Gary, shortly before the start of the trial. Gary asked him specifically about the August 16. He said he agreed to meet Eugene O’Kelly, Ms Collins solicitor in Dublin to provide a statement.

Mr Keating agreed that when he attended the meeting he met Ms Collins who introduced him to Mr O’Kelly and then left.

Mr Keating said he was absolutely certain that he had met Ms Collins on August 16 as he had just returned from holiday in England. He showed the court a receipt from a Stena Line loyalty scheme that detailed a trip from Rosslare to Fishguard on July 27 returning on August 14.

He said he was absolutely sure he had met Ms Collins two days later as the period was “fixed” in his mind.

He denied that he had written details of his meeting with Ms Collins in his diary at a later date in a different pen. Mr Keating said he often used different pens to write. “Sometimes you could be looking for a pen and you still wouldn’t find one.”

He said that he had been intimidated when he finished giving his evidence by a female garda who said to him “John, I should put you in handcuffs.” He said he had been interviewed for over three hours and asked a lot of questions.

Detective Garda Therese Flannery told Mr O’Connell that it was her responsibility to marshal witnesses called to give evidence in the trial and bring them to lunch. She said she had gestured holding her hands up as if bound to indicate that they should keep together but had never said the name “John” or used the word “handcuffs”.

The jury also heard from security consultant, Mr Kevin Cooper who told Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL, prosecuting, that he had been contacted by Mr Robert Howard looking for personal protection after he received a demand for €100,000.

However, he agreed with Mr Bowman that Mr Howard had never actually used his services for this purpose.

Mr Richard Fitzgerald, a director of Boots Systems Ltd, a computer firm used by Downes & Howard, told the court that Ms Collins had requested the office computer set up so that she could access her work from Spain.

He said that the company had installed an FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, programme on the computer and explained it to Ms Collins. Both Robert and Niall Howard were also present that day but he could not remember if he had explained the procedure to them as well.

The trial will continue tomorrow before Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and the jury of eight men and four women, when the prosecution are expected to finish their case.