Limerick man was beaten and his foot nailed to kitchen floor, court told

A Limerick man was beaten and his left foot nailed with a nail-gun to the kitchen floor of a house in Limerick, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

Dan Quilligan (53), the alleged victim, told the three-judge, non-jury court on Wednesday that he did not know the names of the men who assaulted him.

Three men are on trial for the alleged assault.

Gerard Mackin (33), a native of Northern Ireland with an address at Star Court, John Carey Park, Southill; Mark Heffernan (32), Swallow Drive, John Carew Park; and Patrick Hayes (52), Larch Court, Kennedy Park, all Limerick, have all pleaded not guilty to assaulting Mr Quilligan, causing him harm, at Larch Court, on September 14th, 2015.

The men have also pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning Mr Quilligan on the same date at the same address.

Mr Quilligan, from Rathkeale, told prosecuting counsel Tara Burns on Wednesday that on the day of the alleged assault he was with a friend in Limerick, at the train station, drinking a pint. His friend got a phone call and they both went to a house, the court heard, with his friend driving a van there.

They arrived at the house and entered through the back. There were two or three people there, the court heard.

“Before I knew it, I got a beating and I was nailed to the floor,” Mr Quilligan said. “I had a couple of pints. It was all a shock.”

Mr Quilligan was told to sit down in a chair. “I got a slap to the jaw and a belt into the side of the head,” he said.

The gun was shot into his right foot and his left foot was nailed to the floor, the court heard.

He said he did not know the names of the men. There were “two fellas at the door”, the court heard.

“I had a couple of pints. I was sick that day and maybe I had a whiskey,” Mr Quilligan said.

Hospital

He told the court that the assailants left and he got his leg free from the floor and ran. He passed out in his friend’s van on the way to the hospital. Mr Quilligan was in hospital for three or four days. One day, while outside smoking a cigarette, he received a phone call, he said, adding that it was from the man who lived at the house where he was assaulted.

“The man asked me, how’s your feet?” Mr Quilligan said, before two guards came over and took the phone from the complainant.

Earlier, Ms Burns told the court that the prosecution case was that the call directing Mr Quilligan and his friend to the house at Larch Court came from Mr Hayes’ phone number.

The court will hear evidence, she said, that the three accused men were present at the Larch Court house prior to the assault.

She said it was expected the court will hear evidence that Mr Macken and Mr Heffernan were wearing boiler suits and that Mr Heffernan had an object in his hand, prior to the assault, described as a nail-gun.

The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge John O’Hagan and Judge Ann Ryan.