Two men were given lengthy jail sentences at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday for taking part in a violent confrontation between a Dublin criminal gang and a gang linked to the INLA. Belfast INLA man Patrick Campbell died during the incident .
The court was told that during the confrontation the INLA group stripped, beat and interrogated members of the criminal gang and threatened to shoot them.
Declan Duffy (27), a native of Armagh city, with an address at Fatima Mansions, Dublin and Patrick O'Toole (23), Kilclare Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of a shotgun and to falsely imprisoning four men against their will at Ballymount Road industrial estate, Walkinstown, Dublin on October 6th, 1999.
Duffy was jailed for nine years and O'Toole was jailed for seven years by the court.
Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan, presiding, said Duffy was in charge of the operation and he had wanted to shoot one of the victims but was prevented by an associate.
Det Insp Thomas Mulligan told the court there was a dispute between Mr John Creed and a Dublin criminal who believed a member of Mr Creed's family caused fire damage to a van belonging to the criminal.
The criminal demanded £600 compensation and sent six associates to collect the money from Mr Creed at his premises at Ballymount Road. Mr Creed had arranged for a group associated with the INLA to wait for the criminal group upstairs.
When the criminal group arrived armed with knuckle dusters and batons, they were confronted by the INLA group who had firearms and who stripped them naked and bound their hands and feet.
The criminal group was beaten and interrogated and one of them was scalded with hot tea while others had cold water poured over them. They were told they had 24 hours to leave the country or members of their families would be shot and one man was told he would be going north and would die a young man.
The criminal group was bundled into a van and as this was happening a third group of 12 men associated with the Dublin criminal arrived on the scene to help their associates.
During a fight with the INLA-linked group, Patrick Campbell was beaten. He died four days later in Tallaght hospital. Det Insp Mulligan said that Campbell died from brain damage. He said two shots were fired by the INLA group at the van used by the criminal group as the van left the scene.