Andrew Carey at the Special Criminal Court
APRIL Collins has denied that she was told by a garda that she would not go to prison for intimidating a witness in the wake of making statements against members of the Dundon crime family.
Giving in evidence in the trial of two Limerick men charged with the murder of Roy Collins in April 2009, Ms Collins confirmed that she spoke to gardai in April 2011, but denied that a garda told her she would not go to prison after she admitted intimidating a witness in a criminal case of her former partner, father and brother.
Wayne Dundon (36) and Nathan Killeen (24) deny the murder of Roy Collins on April 9, 2009 when the Limerick businessman was shot at his place of work by a gunman and Ms Collins was giving evidence in relation to what she recalled happened on the day of the murder.
In her previous evidence, Ms Collins said that she was in the hospital when she received a call on her mobile. She said she was there with her sick son around the time of the murder. Legal argument dominated the conclusion of her evidence in relation to voice recognition. The court is to rule on that aspect at a later time during the trial.
In today’s evidence, the mother of four, three of which are with the brother of one of the accused Ger Dundon, said that she continued to breach road traffic laws after she was banned from driving and had a three-year suspended prison sentence hanging over her.
Michael Bowman BL for Wayne Dundon outlined to Ms Collins her pattern of offending and convictions in the wake of “making certain statements to gardai” and asked the witness if she recalled the court dates and their outcomes.
Ms Collins, said that she was before the count “so many times for road offences”, she couldn’t remember them all.
However, in cross examination, Ms Collins denied to Mr Michael Bowman BL for Wayne Dundon that she was “taking the mickey out of the system” and that her lack of memory in relation to her court appearances was in “stark contrast to the minute detail given” surrounding the day of the murder.
Mr Bowman further put it to Ms Collins that it was a “coincidence” and something “remarkable” that she never served a day of her three year suspended sentence despite having the “guts of 30 road traffic offences before the courts a short time after the serious threat of prison was handed down”.
The mother of four said that she was punished for what she did and said “I was given what I was given”.
Ms Collins denied that entering into the court bond to be of good behaviour was a “joke” and denied that a garda called to her home and said that she wouldn’t go to jail over the witness intimidation offence.
The court was shown CCTV footage of activities in the area near the home of Ms Collins parents on the morning of the murder before breaking for lunch.
The trial, before the three judge non-jury court is to continue later today with evidence from convicted murderer Anthony Noddy McCarthy.
