Trial of Limerick brothers on threats charges hears further evidence

A garda witness in the trial of two Limerick man accused of threatening to kill a mother and three of her children has denied that one of the complainants received any “special status” after making the allegations.

Garda James Hourihan was giving evidence in the trial of Wayne Dundon (aged 33) and John Dundon (aged 29), who between them have denied seven counts of making threats to kill and two counts of witness intimidation.

Wayne Dundon, of Lenihan Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, has pleaded not guilty to five counts relating to threatening to kill Alice Collins and her children Gareth, Jimmy and April, as well as two counts of obstructing the course of justice at addresses in Limerick city between September 2010 and March 2011.

His younger brother John Dundon, with an address at Hyde Road, Limerick, has pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill April Collins and making a threat to April to kill her mother Alice Collins at an address on Hyde Road on the weekend of April 3 and 4, 2011.

Giving evidence on the third day of the trial, Garda Hourihan told Mr Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, that he met April and Alice Collins on Hyde Avenue on the afternoon of April 7, 2011.

He said that April Collins told him her relationship with John Dundon’s incarcerated brother Gerard, with whom she has three children, had ended acrimoniously and that Gerard had been moved to Portlaoise prison after breaking up his prison cell.

Garda Hourihan said that April Collins told him both she and her mother Alice had been threatened by John and Wayne Dundon and said he believed they were both in genuine fear. He said he provided the Collins’ with his personal mobile number and later the same evening both April and Alice went to Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick where they made statements of complaint.

Under cross-examination by counsel for John Dundon, Mr Brian McCartney QC, Garda Hourihan said that no special status had been afforded April Collins after she made the allegations against John Dundon.

When it was put to him that he had become April Collins’ “protector” after prosecuting her for the offence of witness intimidation in May 2010, Garda Hourihan said that Alice and April Collins made statements to gardaí because they believed serious threats had been made against them and their family.

He told Mr McCartney that his contact with the Collins family had absolutely no bearing on the outcome the case against April Collins, who was given a three-year suspended sentence for witness intimidation at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court in May 2011.

When asked why April Collins had pleaded guilty to the offence when she previously indicated she would deny the charges, Garda Hourihan said that although he was the prosecuting garda he did not know how she intended to plead.

Garda Hourihan denied that his role had become obscured and said it was not correct that April Collins was being “used” by him for ulterior motives.

He said he was “unaware” that April Collins had formed a relationship with Thomas O’Neill, a man who Mr McCartney said had 36 convictions and was known as the leader of a group of men convicted for a “horrific” gang rape in Cratloe Woods, Co Clare in 2004.

Garda Hourihan said he was not aware of reports that Thomas O’Neill was “dangerous, volatile, unmanageable, unruly and depraved” and said he did not know the name of an individual with whom April Collins was allegedly seen in a “loving embrace” by gardaí on April 8, 2011.

The trial continues on Tuesday in front of presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler.