Former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall, who waterboarded and threatened to kill a man he believed was trying to defraud him, has been jailed for 12 years by the Special Criminal Court.
The court found that his victim, Anthony Hurley, was subjected to a “humiliating and degrading” ordeal during which Dowdall claimed to be a member of the IRA and told Mr Hurley he would be “chopped up” and “fed to the dogs”.
Patrick Dowdall (60), Jonathan’s father, was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in the same incident.
The two men admitted to falsely imprisoning Mr Hurley by detaining him without his consent at an address on Navan Road, Dublin 7 on January 15th, 2015.
Both men also pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Mr Hurley at the same place on the same date for which Jonathan Dowdall was given a concurrent four-year sentence and Patrick Dowdall a concurrent three years.
Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said these were “most serious offences” and that Mr Hurley had “endured what can only be described as physical and mental torture at the hands of the Dowdalls”.
Motorbike
The court heard Jonathan Dowdall and Mr Hurley met on January 12th, 2015 after Jonathan Dowdall advertised a motorbike for sale on donedeal.ie.
Mr Hurley visited the Dowdall home on January 12th, 2015 and there was subsequent contact between the two regarding the purchase of the motorbike.
Three days later Jonathan Dowdall invited Mr Hurley to his home for dinner, saying Patrick Dowdall had enjoyed his company on the previous occasion.
Jonathan Dowdall collected Mr Hurley and brought him to his home. After Jonathan Dowdall opened the door, Mr Hurley was met by Patrick Dowdall who pushed him into the garage and backed him into a swivel chair.
Mr Hurley’s wrists, chest and legs were tied to the chair with cable ties and Jonathan Dowdall called him “a lying bastard from the sewer”.
The Dowdalls and another man described what they were going to do to him and Mr Hurley was told there was no point in screaming as the garage was sound-proofed.
The judge said Mr Hurley was accused of being a thief and of trying to steal a car from another person.
Last month, footage recorded on a mobile phone was shown to the court of Jonathan Dowdall (40) wearing a balaclava and holding a tea-towel to Mr Hurley’s face before pouring water over his head. Mr Hurley told gardaí that he thought he was drowning as he could not breathe.
‘Deeply disturbing’
The court heard that gardaí searching Jonathan Dowdall’s house in relation to a separate matter found the footage on a USB flash drive. An assertion by Jonathan Dowdall that he would have uploaded the footage to YouTube was found to be “deeply disturbing” by the non-jury court.
Mr Hurley was told he was stupid to mess with the IRA and would be dead within 24 hours if he went to the gardaí. He was also told that if he told a soul about this that his parents would be dead with 48 hours of his disappearance.
The court heard that at one stage Patrick Dowdall pulled out a silver pliers and threatened to pull Mr Hurley’s fingers off. Jonathan Dowdall told him he was concerned that he was fraudulently trying to use his bank details.
Ms Justice Kennedy said it was “chilling” that a recording was made of the incident and that the injured party can be seen whimpering but the “callous and brutal attack continued”.
The judge said the men were arrested on May 17th, 2016 and since then they have expressed apologies and regret.
She said Jonathan Dowdall was a married man with four daughters and was an electrician by trade. He was a devoted family and community man who had a difficult upbringing, she said.
The court heard Patrick Dowdall is a separated man who has four children. “He also had a difficult upbringing and poor health,” she said.
Ms Justice Kennedy said all sentences were backdated to May 17th, 2016.