Judge to sentence Jonathan Dowdall and his father for false imprisonment and threatening to kill
A former Sinn Féín Councillor and his father are due to be sentenced today for falsely imprisoning and threatening to kill a con artist.
Jonathan Dowdall tortured the man by water boarding him at his house on the Navan Road in Dublin in January 2015.
When Mr Dowdall’s home was searched in relation to another matter in March 2016, Gardaí found a USB stick in his kitchen.
On it, they found a number of video clips showing a man, whom they later identified as convicted fraudster Alex Hurley, being water boarded.
The footage, recorded on January 15, 2015, showed him bound to an office chair in Mr Dowdall’s garage.
It then showed the former Sinn Féin Councillor placing a towel over his head and pouring two buckets of water over him.
The court heard he suspected he was being scammed by Mr Hurley who had called over to his house three days beforehand to look at a motorbike.
In his victim impact statement, Mr Hurley said he was tortured to the point of death’s door.
Jonathan Dowdall and his father Patrick are due to be sentenced later this morning.
