Alleged hitman had affair with accused
A former Las Vegas poker dealer accused of being hired to kill a Clare man and his two sons told gardaí he had an affair with the woman accused of hiring him, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.
Mr Essam Eid (aged 52), an Egyptian man with a Las Vegas address and Ms Sharon Collins (aged 45), with an address at Ballybeg House, Kildysart Road, Ennis have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to kill P.J., Robert and Niall Howard between August 1, 2006 and September 26, 2006.
Ms Collins also denies hiring Mr Eid to shoot the three men.
Mr Eid denies demanding €100,000 from Mr Robert Howard to cancel the contracts. He also denies breaking into the Howard family business at Westgate Business Park and stealing two computers, some computer cables, a digital clock and a poster of old Irish money and then handling the stolen items.
Detective Garda Jarlaith Fahy told prosecuting counsel Mr Tom O’Connell SC that Mr Eid was interviewed by gardaí after his arrest on September 27, 2006.
Gardaí arrested him and his wife, Teresa Engle, after Mr Robert Fahy was told to meet a woman in the Queen Hotel in Ennis to exchange €100,000 for a stolen laptop.
Mr Eid told gardaí he had been having an affair with Ms Collins for “two, three years” and identified her in a photograph shown to him by gardaí.
He said he had visited her about a month before his arrest on her partner’s boat in Malaga, staying there for about a week and visiting the boat daily while he stayed in a nearby hotel.
He said they talked often on the phone and he had been supposed to travel to Malaga on his current visit but his wife had insisted on accompanying him.
He told gardaí that Ms Collins had booked flights for him and his wife.
"She think she friend of mine or co-worker."
He said that Ms Collins had called him several times and calls had been put through to his room at the Two Mile Inn in Limerick.
Despite initially denying he knew the name Howard, Mr Eid told gardai he had heard of P.J. Howard because of his relationship with Ms Collins.
He denied ever meeting either Robert or Niall Howard but said it was possible that Mr Howard knew of his affair.
He said he had no idea how computer cables fitting the Toshiba laptop stolen from the offices of the Howard family’s property business on September 25, had come to be in his hotel room and said he had never seen a poster of old Irish money and a digital clock also taken from the office that were also found.
He said he would have no reason to have the poster: “Why leave it like this? I can’t cash it” and said that the digital clock was “cool” but he had never seen it before. He suggested to gardaí that someone had got into his room through an open window and put the stolen items in his luggage.
Mr Eid denied phoning Robert Howard before arriving at his house with the stolen Toshiba laptop and offering him the chance to buy his family out of the contract on their lives.
He said he had never called himself “Tony”. I always introduce myself as Sam or Essam. Why I use Tony?”
He strongly denied being hired to kill Mr Howard and his two sons.
"I used to be a fighter. I used to be black belt. I think my daughter has seen me hit someone. I big, big heart, you no idea."
The jury also heard further evidence from Detective Garda Peter Keenan who had told them yesterday about a letter sent from Ms Collins personal email account to the Gerry Ryan show.
He told Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL , prosecuting, the email was sent to the show from an Iridium laptop seized from the house Ms Collins shared with P.J. Howard and had received an automatic confirmation of it’s receipt from the RTE server.
He said there was a second email to the show with the Subject "Sleeping with the enemy" although the text had been lost.
He agreed with Mr Michael Bowman BL, defence counsel for Ms Collins, that portions of the letter to the Gerry Ryan show read to the jury yesterday, which contained sexual allegations about Ms Collins partner Mr Howard, had been missing.
He said it was impossible to know what information had been lost or had not been found by gardaí.
Det. Gda Keenan said three photographs had been recovered from the hard drive of the Iridium laptop. Ms Ni Raifeartaigh said that the first photograph showed Essam Eid sitting in an open topped car.
Mr Mark Nicholas BL, defence counsel for Mr Eid objected that the photographs showed a man who could not be identified as Mr Eid.
A second photograph showed “the same man” standing at a yellow sports car while the third photograph showed “the man with a younger woman beside him”. Mr Eid called out “That’s my daughter.”
The trial will continue tomorrow before Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and the jury of eight men and four women.
