A man has been jailed for three years by the Special Criminal Court for threatening to kill a security man at a Dublin nightclub over two years ago.
Gareth Dunne (25), of Clonard Road in Crumlin pleaded guilty at the three judge-non jury court in July to threatening to kill Richard Bowden at the Barcode nightclub in Clontarf on August 10th, 2008.
Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding, said that the court would sentence Dunne to five years imprisonment but would suspend the final two years because “there is light at the end of the tunnel” for Dunne.
He said that Dunne had dissociated himself from his former associates in the INLA and had not been on any paramilitary wing at Portlaoise prison.
The court ordered the sentence to run consecutively with a four years sentence for INLA membership which Dunne is currently serving because the offence was committed while he was on bail.
Det Sgt Vincent Markey told the court that Dunne arrived at the Barcode premises at 8.10pm and asked a security man if he could see the head of security. He went and sat down inside the restaurant and when Mr Bowden, who is a member of the security staff, walked by he again requested to see the head of security.
Dunne then indicated to Mr Bowden that “his clients” were owed €30,000. Dunne then told Mr Bowden that he would kill the head of security, his partner and young son.
He then told Mr Bowden: “I don’t know if I am going to put six bullets into you now or when I come back because I am coming back.”
He said he was going to “blast him” and reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. “I do this for a living,” he said.
Dunne then put the gun down the front of his trousers and got Mr Bowden to escort him from the premises.
After his arrest, he denied during interviews with the gardaí that he had a gun or had threatened Mr Bowden.
Det Sgt Markey said one line of questioning pursued by gardaí was that the €30,000 was “a perceived INLA debt.”
Dunne, in evidence, apologised to Mr Bowden, the court and his family. He said that he had let his family down by his selfish behaviour. He dissociated himself from any illegal organisations.
In July last year, the Special Criminal Court jailed Dunne for four years after he pleaded guilty to INLA membership. He was arrested in February 2008 after gardaí foiled an INLA plot to a kidnap a Cork businessman.