SOMEONE CHECKED the credit limit on a Clare man's American Express card from Ireland while Sharon Collins and the Las Vegas poker dealer she is accused of conspiring with to kill him and his two sons were both out of the country, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Ms Collins (45), with an address at Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, and Essam Eid (52), an Egyptian man with a Las Vegas address, have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kill PJ, Robert and Niall Howard between August 1st, 2006, and September 26th, 2006. Ms Collins also denies hiring Mr Eid to kill the three men.
Mr Eid denies demanding €100,000 from Robert Howard to cancel the contracts. He also denies breaking into the Howard family business at Westgate Business Park and stealing two computers, some computer cables, a digital clock and a poster of old Irish money and then handling the stolen items.
Garda Annette Ryan told Michael Bowman, counsel for Ms Collins, that two calls had been made to American Express Card Services on September 22nd, 2006, from the offices of Downes Howard, the property investment business run by Mr Howard and his sons.
Garda Ryan confirmed that two calls had been made at lunchtime that day.
Earlier in the trial Paul Shingles, an investigator with American Express, told the jury that an unknown person called the helpline on September 22nd, 2006, and asked for the credit limit but hung up when they were asked for Mr Howard's mother's maiden name. The jury have also heard that on September 19th, two flights to Ireland on US airlines were charged to the card in the names of Mr Eid and one of his wives, Teresa Engle. A hotel booking with Alpha Reservations was made on the same date.
Garda Ryan told Una Ní Raifeartaigh, prosecuting, that phone records showed over 70 phone calls between phones related to Ms Collins and those registered to Mr Eid.
She said the location of the calls from Ms Collins's phones and the individual phones used in the case of mobile phones, corresponded to her movements between Ireland and Spain, where Mr Howard owns an apartment.
A total of seven calls were made from a phone registered to Mr Eid to the mobile belonging to Brian Buckley, an Irish soldier who gave evidence earlier in the trial that he had contacted the website Hitmanforhire.us.
Pte Buckley told the jury he had thought the website was a joke but had second thoughts when he was contacted by a man calling himself Tony who asked for "strong poison" to do a job in Ireland.
Garda Ryan said she had not investigated US numbers dialled from the landline in Ballybeg house, where Ms Collins lived with Mr Howard, because they were not related to the Garda investigation.
Mr Bowman pointed out that these calls had been made while Ms Collins was in Spain.
The trial continues on Monday.