Eid loses appeal in 'Lying Eyes' case

A former Las Vegas poker dealer lost his appeal today against the severity of a six-year jail term handed down to him for demanding money with menace.

The Court of Criminal Appeal rejected a bid by Essam Eid, an Egyptian national with an address in Nevada, USA to have his sentence reduced, finding the term could not be considered “too light”, given the serious nature of the offence.

Eid (aged 54) was jailed in October 2008 after being found guilty of demanding €100,000 from Robert Howard in Ennis on September 26, 2006 in exchange for not killing him, his brother Niall and their father PJ Howard.

He was also found guilty of handling items stolen from the Howard family business the previous night.

Earlier, the three-judge court reserved judgement in an appeal brought by Eid’s co-accused, Clare woman Sharon Collins, against her conviction for soliciting a hitman to murder her partner Mr Howard and his two sons in 2006.

The CCA, of Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding, sitting with Mr Justice Declan Budd and Mr Justice Daniel O’Keefe, indicated there would be “some delay” in giving a judgement, and that it may not be delivered until the next legal term.

Collins, a mother of two, was also found guilty of three counts of conspiring to kill the men.

However, at the opening of the two day appeal hearing on Thursday, the State conceded it was not possible to “stand over” her conviction in respect of these, as it was “logically unsustainable”.

Today, Mr David Sutton SC, for Mr Eid, argued this was “about as unusual” a case as had ever been heard in the State, “coming from the Souks of Cairo, to the gaming halls of Vegas via The Queens Hotel in Ennis”.

The court heard that on September 26, 2006, Eid rang Robert Howard posing as Tony Luciano and told him he had heard the Howards were missing some computers and that he would be at the house in five minutes.

He told Robert there was a contract out on the lives of himself, his brother and his father and offered him the chance to buy himself and his family out of the contract for €100,000.

Lawyers for Eid said there was an “element of slight absurdity” that “an eccentric middle-aged man” like their client could be considered menacing in this context.

The appeal, the court heard, hinged mainly on “an error of principle”, in that Eid was given the same sentence as that handed down to Sharon Collins.

The court was told Eid has difficulty integrating into prison life, is in poor health, living with a pacemaker and had lost everything, including “his wives”.

Mr Sutton SC said there were “no guns”, “no dead bodies”, and that the incident for which his client was found guilty was over in “24 hours”.

Eid, who has no previous convictions, has already served the bulk of his sentence, and with good behaviour is likely to be released in March 2011.

The State opposed the appeal. Counsel for the DPP, Ms Una Ní Raifeartaigh SC, urged the court to consider the “gravity of the offence” and the fact the Howards’ “were genuinely frightened”.

Refusing the appeal today, the court held that while Eid could be described as an “incompetent and unprofessional” criminal, the incident “must have been very upsetting” for the two brothers.

Earlier the Court of Criminal Appeal heard there was “a mountain of evidence” to prove Sharon Collins solicited a person to kill the three Howards.

Collins is attempting to overturn her conviction in respect of this offence on four main points, among them the evidence of Teresa Engle, Eid's second wife who was a convicted felon and awaiting sentence in the US at the time of the trial.

Her appeal also focused on the treatment of evidence relating to the poison ricin, found in Mr Eid’s prison cell prior to their trial, and the judge’s charge to the jury on the soliciting charge.

The court has already heard how the “whole focus” of the 32 day trial had been on “the conspiracy charge” which both sides now accepted “cannot stand”. Lawyers for Collins argued the solicitation verdict was now “tainted” as there had been no effort to “treat them distinctly”.

The court was told the solicitation offence centres only on the events of August 15th, 2006, the date on wich Ms Collins sent €15,000 in a FedEx delivery to the United States. The prosecution says this money was to act as a deposit for a hitman to kill her partner and his sons killed.

Mr Tom O’Connell SC, for the DPP, told the three judge appeal court of “an abundance” of material which was provided to the jury in the trial to allow it “draw the conclusion” that Sharon Collins, as [e-mail], solicited Essam Eid, as Tony Luciano, hitman for hire, to murder the three Howards.

The 2008 trial heard that Collins was unhappy that PJ Howard would not marry her.

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh SC, also for the DPP, argued that “almost all of the evidence against Sharon Collins originated in Ireland”, in response to criticisms concerning the “American module” of the trial.

Counsel for the State said it was “unfair” to characterise Teressa Engle, Eid’s second wife, as a “bare-faced liar” and added that her actual evidence in the trial related mostly to Eid and “many pieces” of it were capable of being “independently verified”.

Earlier, Michael Bowman BL, for Collins, said the last-minute introduction of Ms Engle as a witness, meant she went from "zero to hero".

It was also argued that evidence concerning the discovery of “very minute” quantities poison ricin should not have been put before the jury.

The ricin was raised early on in the trial, described as the most deadly poison known to man, and added an element of “hysteria and drama” to the case.

Lawyers for Collins said the toxin had not been sufficiently available to allow the defence carry out its own tests.

But Counsel for the State said “the ricin evidence” was “entirely relevant” in the trial as it indicated there was an intention to kill on the part of Mr Eid, and that its inclusion in the trial did not “contaminate” Ms Collins’ case as it was never contended that she knew about it.