Lunney accused try to have CCTV evidence thrown out

Kevin Lunney has told the court that he was bundled into the boot of a car near his home and driven to a container where he was threatened and told to resign as a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings.

No criminal would ever again need to wear a balaclava if prosecutors were prevented from using CCTV footage in court, a barrister has told the Special Criminal Court trial of four men accused of abducting and assaulting Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney.

Sean Guerin SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said lawyers for the accused were asking the court to rule out CCTV evidence that was lawfully obtained by gardaí investigating a serious crime. The footage, counsel said, was the fruit of specific lines of inquiry arising from findings in the investigation. The suggestion the footage should be excluded on privacy grounds, he said, is "manifestly contrary to the maintenance of social order". Mr Guerin said the public interest is served by the use of CCTV in the investigation of serious crime.