Dundon claims witness had vendetta against him

A Limerick man told gardaí in interview that a mother-of-three he is accused of threatening to kill was a “crack-head” who had a “vendetta” against him, the Special Criminal Court has heard today.

John Dundon (aged 29) with an address at Hyde Road, Limerick, made the allegations in one of five interviews with detectives at Henry Street garda station.

He has pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill April Collins (aged 24) and making a threat to April to kill her mother Alice Collins (aged 48) at an address on Hyde Road on the weekend of April 3 and 4, 2011.

His older brother Wayne Dundon (aged 33), 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.

The court heard that April Collins was in a relationship with Gerard Dundon, a brother of the accused men, for eight years and had three children by him.

In memos of interview read in to the record this afternoon, the court heard that John Dundon repeatedly denied to gardaí that he had threatened April Collins and described her as a “crack-head” a “fruitcake” and a “prostitute” who had made “false” and “comical” allegations against him.

Detective Garda Oliver Foley agreed with Mr Shane Costelloe BL, prosecuting, that John Dundon told gardaí he had been released from Portlaoise Prison on April 3, 2011 and spent the evening drinking beer with family and friends at his home before going to the gym with his brother Wayne the next day.

When it was put to him that April Collins alleged she could identify him shouting and threatening her through glass panels around her front door on the night of April 3, 2011, John Dundon replied that it was not possible to see through the glass as it was smoked or “hazy”.

He told gardaí that he would not let his brother Ger “get back with” April Collins and that she had a vendetta against him because of this.

He alleged that he had once caught April Collins smoking crack in England in 2009 and told detectives that she was a “crack-head” and an “unstable” person who had been charged with making threats herself.

He said he was “flabbergasted” that he could be detained and questioned for 20 hours by the “same people” who had prosecuted April Collins and now contented she was a “lovely person”.

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