TWO MEN were jailed yesterday for five years in the first Limerick gangland cases to come before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
Ger Dundon (23), Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, and David McCormack (26), Crecora Avenue, Ballinacurra Weston, were each sentenced to five years imprisonment having both pleaded guilty to committing violent disorder at Sarsfield Avenue, Garryowen, on February 17th, 2010.
The cases were not sent forward to the three-judge non-jury court under new anti-gangland laws but were instead forwarded under existing legislation which allows the Director of Public Prosecutions to send non-terrorist cases for trial at the court.
Presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler said the five-year sentences would be backdated to April 2010, when Dundon and McCormack were arrested along with six other men following a Garda investigation into extortion.
Chief Supt David Sheehan told Thomas O’Connell SC, prosecuting, the charge against the two men arose following attempts by others to collect €20,000 they believed they were owed by nightclub promoter Mark Heffernan (27).
He said although the two accused men were not involved in earlier attempts to get the money from Mr Heffernan, there was “linkage” between events which eventually cumulated in a group of men chasing Mr Heffernan across Limerick city on February 17th. Mr Heffernan told gardaí he had parked his 4x4 outside Garryowen post office when a number of people armed with hammers got out of a blue Volvo car which had parked alongside him.
Mr Heffernan said he recognised two of the men as David McCormack and Ger Dundon. He told gardaí he accelerated away from the scene, but the Volvo gave chase and eventually cornered him as he attempted to affect a U-turn on Sarsfield Avenue.
Mr Heffernan said Dundon got out of the passenger seat and began to wave his arms, shouting at him to stop the car, while he believed McCormack was standing on the road armed with a black bar. He told gardaí that when he heard someone open the boot of the 4x4, he dropped a gear and drove at the men, who dived out of the way when he mounted a footpath to make good his escape.
Mr Heffernan was pursued by the Volvo, which caused him to run red lights as he drove out on to the Dublin road and circled Limerick city while attempting to contact gardaí on his mobile phone.
Chief Supt Sheehan agreed that when asked by gardaí what he would do if he got “banged up” for a few years because of a “rat”, McCormack said he would “kill them dead” before saying he would “put them in a wheelchair for the rest of their lives”.
Chief Supt Sheehan said Mr Heffernan and his family are now under 24-hour Garda protection.
He agreed with Martin O’Rourke BL, for Dundon, that it was not alleged Dundon was carrying any weapon or there were any weapons of offence found in the Volvo. Mr O’Rourke said Dundon, who has 99 previous convictions, was “for all intents and purposes” a person with a limited record of offences which would concern the court in the context of an offence of violent disorder.
Andrew Sexton SC, for McCormack, said his client had not taken part in previous incidents involving Mr Heffernan and had not been charged with the possession of any weapons of offence.
Mr Justice Butler said while the court acknowledged there was no evidence Dundon and McCormack had tried to retrieve money from Mr Heffernan, it was satisfied there was a “campaign of intimidation” against him.