Man tells court of similarities between kidnappers and two men on CCTV
A young man has revealed similarities between two men caught on shop CCTV and raiders who kidnapped him and his family in a €2.28m Securicor robbery.
Mr Ian Richardson said the men on CCTV wore similar clothing and had similar facial features to two raiders who took him, his mother and brother to Co. Wicklow in a black Jeep while other gang members made his father drive his cash-laden Securicor van to a drop-off point outside Lucan.
Mr Richardson told prosecution counsel, Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, that the CCTV footage dated 9.40pm March 13, 2005, was taken from a petrol station a short distance from his family home.
Mr Jason Kavanagh, of Parslickstown Court, Ladyswell; David Byrne (aged 36), of Old Brazeel Way, Knocksedan, Swords; Niall Byrne (aged 27), of Aughavanagh Road, Crumlin; Mark Farrelly (aged 37), of Moatview Court, Priorswood and Christopher Corcoran (aged 61), of Bayside Boulevard North, Sutton all deny two charges.
They have pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbing €2.28m from Mr Paul Richardson and Securicor and to falsely imprisoning the Richardson family on March 13 and 14, 2005.
Mr Ian Richardson pointed out on the footage shown in court, that the smaller man wearing a baseball cap had larger ears and a pointed nose like the Jeep front seat passenger or "navigator".
He said the man without a hat on the CCTV footage wore white runners similar to those of the driver.
Earlier, Mr Padraig Dwyer SC, defending Mr Kavanagh put it to a forensic scientist under cross-examination that the Richardsons had been "emphatic" that the raider who wore one of their pillow cases as a balaclava was a person of "small or skinny build".
Mr Michael Burlington of The Forensic Science lab agreed that Mr Kavanagh, who was asked to stand, is a "considerably" tall man, but added that his tests identified Mr Kavanagh’s DNA on the pillow case and didn’t address how or when it came to be there.
A now-retired forensic scientist told prosecution counsel, Mr Seamus Clarke BL, that he could find no link between a Burberry scarf and the black Jeep’s front passenger headrest cover, both given to him by gardaí.
Mr Michael Norton added that none of the suspects’ head hairs were found on the Jeep seats or at the Richardson’s home.
It was day-46 of the trial which continues before Judge Tony Hunt and a jury of seven men and five women.
