An Post worker, wife and baby kidnapped in €600,000 robbery plot

A Dubliner has gone on trial charged with kidnapping a man, his partner and their baby before robbing more than €600,000 from the post office where the man worked.

It is the State's case that Jonathan Gill was one of a gang of five involved in holding the family hostage in their home before moving them to a shed. The couple were threatened with what they believed to be guns and were tied up with cable ties.

Mr Gill (35), of Malahide Road, Swords, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to falsely imprisoning Warren Nawn, Jean Marie Matthews and their 10-week-old baby in Drogheda between August 1st and 2nd, 2011.

He has also pleaded not guilty to the robbery of €661,125 from An Post, West Street, Drogheda on August 2nd, 2011.

Vincent Heneghan SC, prosecuting, told the jury it would hear evidence that Mr Nawn and Ms Matthews were watching television while their baby girl was asleep beside them when there was a knock to the door.

Mr Nawn answered and a man with a scarf on his face threw a pizza box at him before tackling him to the ground. A second man entered their home and duct tape was put on Mr Nawn’s mouth and eyes before he was restrained with cable ties.

Bullet to head

The men questioned Mr Nawn about his work place and the staff there while threatening him with what appeared to be a gun. Ms Matthews was threatened in a similar way and told she would have a bullet in the back of her head.

The couple were detained there for about two hours before Mr Nawn was put in the boot of his car and Ms Matthews and the baby were placed in the front. They were driven for about 90 minutes before they were taken into a shed.

At 3.30am the baby became upset as she needed to be fed. A litre of milk was eventually bought for her and the family were kept in the location until around 9am the next day.

Mr Nawn was then handed his An Post uniform which had been taken from his home. He was handed a phone and told to drive to work. He had earlier been told to call his immediate boss to inform him he would be late.

“He followed their instructions because he was put in fear,” Mr Heneghan said.

Mr Nawn met his boss and told him that his partner and child were being held and told they would be shot. He was instructed to get whatever cash there was in the post office at the time.

The raiders spoke to Mr Nawn’s boss and Ms Matthews was also instructed to call the man and tell him a gun was being held to her head. She said she had her baby with her.

Mr Heneghan said Mr Nawn was then instructed to take the cash and deliver it to a specific location. He was then told to drive on further, break up the phone the raiders had given him and throw it into the River Boyne.

Mr Heneghan told the jury that in the meantime Ms Matthews had been put in a car and transferred to a remote rural location. She was cable tied to an old bed in a burned out shed and left there with her baby.

She later managed to free herself and made her way to a nearby industrial estate where staff called gardaí.

The trial continues.