Security video footage from a Dublin snooker hall allegedly operating as a "shebeen" was played in Dublin District Court yesterday to try to prove it sold cans of beer without a licence.
Gardai seized the video from The Mint, Henry Place, off Henry Street, when they raided it at 4 a.m. on February 1st last.
The manager, Mr Thomas Buckley, Rafter's Road, Drimnagh, claimed the alcohol had been brought in by patrons as part of a benefit night for someone who had died the day before.
The owner, Mr Patrick Cahill, who is Mr Buckley's brother-in-law, of Weston Close, Lucan, denied any knowledge of the activities on the night.
A decision on the prosecution, which is taken under Licensing Act (Ireland) 1874, will be given in a week.
The court heard gardai found more than 150 people on the premises, many of them drinking from cans of Budweiser beer.
A large number of empty and half-empty cans were found around the premises as well as unopened cans behind the counter.
At the rear was a locked door for which Mr Buckley said he did not have the key. Gardai forced the door and found video surveillance equipment in operation from which they seized a tape.
The tape was played in court yesterday and showed people being handed cans at the counter and money being exchanged.
Mr Buckley claimed the cans were only being stored for customers at the counter and the transactions shown on the video could have been for a number of things, including people paying for bars of chocolate or for a snooker table.
He explained that, in one scene in which he was recorded carrying a tray of beer across the premises, the drink had come from some people who had just brought it in with them.
"I tried to look after it properly and contain it, but I sold no drink."
He denied the only alcohol found by gardai was Budweiser and said some cans of cider were also found.
The night was a benefit for Mr Gerard Brown who had died the day before.
Judge Michael O'Leary adjourned the case for a week to consider legal submissions from Mr Cahill's solicitor and from the State.