A man who pleaded guilty to murdering Limerick businessman and father of two Roy Collins in Limerick city last year has been jailed for life.
James Dillon (24), of no fixed abode but from Limerick city, was due to go on trial for Mr Collins’s murder at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday morning.
Dillon stood and replied “guilty” when asked how he pleaded to the charge. He was remanded in custody and sentenced by Mr Justice Paul Carney to the mandatory sentence of imprisonment for life today.
Mr Collins (35) was shot dead outside the Coin Castle amusement arcade, which he managed, at the Roxboro shopping centre in Limerick city on the morning of April 9th, 2009.
Counsel for the State, Michael O'Higgins SC, questioned Garda Sergeant Kevin Swan thhis morning in relation to the events of the day.
The court heard Dillon was the passenger in a black Mercedes that had been stolen in Dublin on March 30th, 2009. He got out of the car and went inside to the arcade before shooting Mr Collins once in the stomach with a handgun. He then fled the scene.
The Mercedes was abandoned and burnt out.
Gardaí later obtained a warrant and found Dillon hiding under a child's bunk-bed in a house connected with the McCarthy-Dundons gang. A black hooded top and a black glove also found in the house were found to have firearm residue and traces of Dillon's DNA.
Mr O'Higgins said the case, if it had gone to trial, would have consisted of circumstantial evidence placing Dillon at the scene of the offence and the fact that gardaí stopped him 16 minutes after the shooting.
Counsel for Dillon, Patrick Gageby SC, told the court his client had been brought up by his grandparents, who were a law-abiding family. His father was dead.
The court heard Dillon was interviewed 19 times by gardaí during his detention after the shooting, before he finally admitted to shooting Mr Collins.
He made the admission on April 13th last year after a visit from his grandfather, to whom he was close, the court heard.
Shortly after that tea-time visit, Dillon told gardaí: "I shot Roy Collins."
The court was told Dillon "could not and could not" implicate anyone else in the shooting of Mr Collins as he would be in fear for himself and his family.
Dillon had become involved with what counsel said could be described as the Dundon-McCarthy gang in Limerick in the six months before the murder. He had done his Leaving Cert and was on a Fás course.
Sergeant Kevin Swan confirmed that Dillon had 13 previous convicitions, mostly for minor matters such as public order offences and road traffic matters.
Mr Collins' father Steven Snr, who was under Garda protection, has maintained his killing was a revenge attack because a cousin had given evidence in a court case leading to the conviction of Limerick criminal Wayne Dundon.
“Evil came into our lives that day and took the love of our lives,” Stephen Collins told the court in a victim impact statement today.
Mr Collins said he and his family did not know how to get over what had happened to them. Every day, they had to look at Roy's "two beautiful daughters lost in confusion as to where their daddy has gone, their little hearts broken beyond repair, too young to understand".
Outside the court, Mr Collins called on other people to stand up to the "thugs" involved in such crime.
He thanked Mr O'Higgins and his legal team for putting together "a very strong case" and described gardaí in Limerick as "the best in the country".
Mr Collins also thanked Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and former minister for defence Willie O'Dea for "promising something and delivering it" with new criminal justice legislation.
He said the people of Limerick had supported his family throughout their ordeal. "When called on, [they] came onto the streets to fight for us and claim back our streets from these thugs," he said.
"What happened to us should never happen to anyone. It's everybody's worst nightmare to lose one of their children. Roy was a wonderful son, who we were all very proud of. He will be sorely missed by everybody. It's such a waste of life. But we know after this his legacy will be that after all that's happened in our lives since his life was taken, his name will be remembered for the good that he has brought about. I would ask everybody to stay strong against these thugs," he said.
"The world is a dangerous place. Not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."