A Dublin man accused of murder had threatened to beat information out of the person who "ripped him off" in a drugs deal - and then kill him, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday. The evidence was given at the trial of Mr Joseph Delaney (53), of Palmerstown Park, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Mark Dwyer (23) with his son, Mr Scott Delaney, on or about December 14th, 1996. He also pleaded not guilty to imprisoning Mr Dwyer against his will.
A brother of the murder victim, Mr Christopher Dwyer Jnr, told the court that Mr Joseph Delaney had said he was going to tie the man who took the drugs to a chair, "in a plastic-covered room", and beat him until he revealed where his drugs were - "and then he was going to die".
Mr Dwyer said the accused man made the threat at a meeting attended by himself, his brother Mark, Mr Scott Delaney and another man. All present knew that a consignment of 40,000 ecstasy tablets which Mr Delaney had smuggled into the country had been taken two days earlier.
The body of Mark Dwyer was discovered shot in the head in a field in Scribblestown Lane, Finglas, after he had been abducted from his flat by three men wearing balaclavas on the morning of December 14th.
Giving evidence, Mr Christopher Dwyer said the accused man had been suspicious of anyone who knew about the shipment. He was at that stage convinced the culprit was a man he called "The Killer". Mr Delaney had got "into a rage" at the meeting in his home, brandishing a baseball bat and warning "whoever took those E. is going to get plenty of that".
The group planned that the culprit would be abducted, tied up and brought to Mr Delaney's Naas home for the beating.
"He was adamant that he would do it himself. He said then he would shoot him. He would have a hole dug in a field and shoot him in the head." The witness and his brother, the victim, had left the meeting to pick up a gun at the request of Mr Delaney, who said he was afraid that whoever ripped him off "would come after him". They had picked up a gun, a Luger pistol, in Tallaght and brought it back to Mr Delaney.
Earlier, a self-confessed drug pusher gave evidence that he had been present with the accused man's son on the night of Mark Dwyer's abduction, when three men with balaclavas and a shotgun had broken into Dwyer's flat.
Under questioning by Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC for the defence, Mr Carl "Yorkie" Dunne said the accused man's son had warned him on the night of the abduction that the victim was going to be "took out".
Earlier that evening, Mr Scott Delaney had told him that someone was going to go up and question the victim in his flat, as he was being blamed for drugs which had gone missing. He had not expected that they would take Mr Dwyer away by force. Both he and Mr Scott Delaney had been surprised and frightened when the masked men broke down the door, he said.
The trial continues tomorrow.