A garda detective has denied a business involvement with Dublin criminal John Traynor. Det Garda John Ryan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court he stopped at Traynor's garage to look at a car but denied he had bought it.
Asked to explain why a car he had bought was registered in the name of Lisa Traynor, he said he hadn't inspected the log book when he bought the car.
When a prosecuting barrister suggested he had bought the car directly from Traynor, Garda Ryan replied: "That is an absolute lie."
It was the seventh day of the trial of Garda Ryan (36), of Newtown Park, Blessington, Co Wicklow, who has pleaded not guilty to obtaining £260 from then Garda Patrick Normile by falsely pretending that he owned a Nissan Micra motor engine in August 1994.
The engine was part of a car originally stolen in England and allegedly recovered by the defendant in Stackstown Motors, Rathfarnham. Garda Ryan agreed that the owner of Stackstown Motors, Martin Wallace, was a well-known criminal and that criminals frequented the garage regularly. He also agreed he had bought a car from Wallace after gardai returned it to Stackstown Motors after a raid.
He agreed that Church Motors in Rathmines was owned by John Traynor and that that connection was well known. He further agreed that he purchased a Vauxhall Nova car which was later registered in his wife's name. He said he had no idea if the car had originated in Church Motors, because he had bought it from Joe Murray, who operated from a premises beside Stackstown Motors. Garda Ryan had no doubt that Sgt Patrick Normile had stolen the Nissan engine at the centre of the case. He added: "Sgt Normile knows what happened to that engine because he went into Rathfarnham station under the cover of darkness and took it."
The trial continues before Judge Dominic Lynch and a jury.