A man on trial for murder told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he did not know why three masked gunmen had brought Mark Dwyer, later found murdered, to his house on the night of the killing.
Mr Joseph Delaney (53), formerly of La Rochelle, Naas, Co Kildare, has pleaded not guilty to the charge that he, with his son Scott Delaney, then 22, murdered Mark Dwyer (23) on or about December 14th, 1996, within the State. Mr Delaney has also denied that on December 14th, 1996, at Foster Terrace, Ballybough, Dublin, he falsely imprisoned Mark Dwyer against his will.
Mr Delaney denied hearing one of the three gunmen saying to him on the night of the murder: "We have the little bollocks who stole your stuff".
The comment allegedly referred to 40,000 ecstasy tablets stolen from Mr Delaney en route from Amsterdam, about which Mr Delaney had been concerned. The court heard that those responsible for the theft may have wanted to murder Mr Delaney, by way of clearing up "loose ends".
Cross-examined by Mr Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, Mr Delaney denied he had been the ring-leader of a drugs gang. "I wasn't any leader," he said, and added that "Mark never worked for me directly. He worked for my son, Scott".
Mr Delaney said his son, Robert, had "sucked" him into the drugs business and that most likely he and another man, Mr Christopher Curry, had "ripped him off."
Mr Gageby asked Mr Delaney why he had not implicated Mr Curry when he was in custody and facing serious allegations. Counsel put it to Mr Delaney that he had gone "on the run" after the murder and that he had attempted to "liquidate" funds to leave the country.
The court has heard that an original statement given by a onetime alibi witness, Ms Adrienne McGuinness, matched Mr Delaney's account of the events the night of the murder. In later statements Ms McGuinness had retracted her evidence, saying she had been terrified of Mr Delaney and that she had listened to Dwyer being tortured for three hours before the men, Mr Delaney, his son and Dwyer left the house.
Mr Gageby told Mr Delaney that it had been some "coincidence" that Ms McGuinness had originally told the same story as he had and counsel put it to Mr Delaney that he had told her what to say.
The trial continues today.