A court has heard a would-be assassin complaining about how taking cocaine was negating the effect of his Viagra and making him “paranoid”, in a recording secretly captured by gardaí.
Liam Brannigan (37) from Bride Street, Dublin 8, is charged with conspiring to murder Gary Hanley at a location within the State between September 15th and November 6th, 2017.
The accused has pleaded not guilty.
On Wednesday the Special Criminal Court heard a clip from a hidden listening device placed on a Volkswagen caddy, on the morning of November 3rd, 2017.
The car was one of six suspect vehicles bugged by gardai in August, September and October 2017 as part of an ongoing investigation into the Kinahan cartel.
The identities of the two men in the vehicle were not revealed in court.
However, surveillance gardaí have previously given evidence to say they saw Joseph Kelly driving the VW caddy on the morning of November 3rd, and later saw Mr Kelly walking with Alan Wilson.
Mr Kelly and Mr Wilson have already pleaded guilty to the plot to kill Mr Hanley and been jailed.
At one point in the audio recording, male two told male one that his plan for that evening was at about 7pm to get a litre of vodka, 12 cans of red bull, a few DVDs, an eighth of cocaine and two Viagras.
Male two also laughed as he referred to “kicking on” to a porn site at home recently while his partner was sitting in another chair. After she caught him, he said he told her “I kicked that on by accident” – to which he said she replied, “you have to tap that into Google”.
Later male two complained to male one that he had been taking cocaine a few weeks previously and had then taken Viagra but it “wouldn’t work”. Male two said he wondered if he should just stop taking the cocaine and then take the Viagra.
Male one said: “I’m not really sure. Just take the Viagra and get into the humour with the missus.”
Male one also suggested that perhaps the cocaine was “killing it” or “overloading it”.
Male two said: “I let myself get too paranoid, checking this and that . . . that’s what it is. It’s \[cocaine] ruining it.”
Male one suggested: “You can’t concentrate on enjoying yourself.”
Earlier evidence
On Tuesday, the court heard a clip from the same car, the same day and involving the same men where male two tells male one how he had recently ended up in St James’s Hospital for four nights after he drank a lot of whiskey and had taken a lot of cocaine.
The man said he tumbled down the stairs after the binge and was “knocked out cold” before a woman rang for an ambulance for him.
The man said he’d lost his phone and “I don’t know whether the police got it, I don’t know”.
He also said that while in the ambulance, he pulled a bag of cocaine off the ambulance driver, who had taken it from the man’s hand, and ripped it up and “f**ked it everywhere”.
Luke Wilson (24), from Cremona Road in Ballyfermot, Dublin, and Joseph Kelly (35) of Kilworth Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12, were arrested after the white VW caddy was stopped on Philipsburgh Avenue, Marino, Dublin 3, just after 8pm on the night of November 6th, 2017.
During that arrest, gardaí seized a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol and other items.
Luke Wilson, Joseph Kelly and Alan Wilson (39) of New Street Gardens, Dublin 8, have all already pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder Mr Hanley and been jailed.
The trial continues.