A man giving evidence against his father in a murder trial told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he had warned the deceased man days before his abduction and subsequent shooting to "watch every move he was making", because his father was "out to get him".
Scott Delaney told the court that just days before the murder of his friend, Mr Mark Dwyer, he had warned him to "stay off the gear and get his head together".
Mr Joseph Delaney (54), formerly of La Rochelle, Naas, Co Kildare, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Dwyer (23) on or about December 14th, 1996. He has also pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning Mr Dwyer and detaining him against his will at Foster Terrace, Ballybough, Dublin, on December 14th, 1996.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Delaney murdered Mr Dwyer over the theft of 30-40,000 ecstasy tablets.
Following the theft of the drugs, allegedly owned by Mr Joseph Delaney, the accused man had attended a meeting with P.J. "Psycho" Judge, a drug-dealer who had since been murdered, Scott Delaney told the court. He said his father had told him that P.J. Judge had said Mark Dwyer had "tried to sell Es to him".
His father had said that Mark Dwyer had "offered him some kind of deal", but that P.J. Judge would not take up the offer, as he did not trust Mark Dwyer.
"Da told me Mark did the rip. He was to be taken offside and questioned about it. I told Mark Dwyer all of this," Scott Delaney said. He told the court that Mr Dwyer had locked himself in his flat with batons and knives "all over the place".
Scott Delaney, who was convicted of the false imprisonment and murder of Mr Dwyer in 1997 and who is currently serving a life sentence, said that the victim had been "very nervous" days before he was murdered. "He told me his head was wrecked and was going to do somebody soon. I told him not to," he told the court.
During cross-examination by Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, Scott Delaney told the court that he had arranged the abduction of Mr Dwyer, but did not kill him. "I kidnapped Mark, but I only did it because me ould fella got me to do it. But he killed him," he said. "It's not my fault. He battered him with a bar. I never said Mark had the Es, me ould fella said that, not me."
Mr Dwyer had been wanted in connection with other matters by criminal elements in Dublin around the time he was murdered, Scott Delaney said. He told the court that his father had told him he would give Mr Dwyer £5,000 to go to Malta to get away from the criminal elements after he had been abducted and questioned and when the drugs were found.
Delaney continued: "He was melting my head . . . At the end of the day they said it was the easiest way out of it, and then they killed him. Me da swore blind to me it would only be a questioning."
Prosecuting counsel previously said that the State Pathologist would give evidence to say that Mr Dwyer died from a laceration of the brain due to a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, fired at "virtual contact range". Stab wounds to the forearms and multiple wounds, possibly caused by a nail-bar, were found on the body, including imprints of a gun nozzle to the chest.
The case before Mr Justice Quirke and a jury continues tomorrow.