Champion power-lifter denies any knowledge of IRA activities
A champion power-lifter, on trial for IRA membership and firearms offences, told gardaí that he was on his way home from giving a building estimate when “all hell broke loose” and he was arrested by detectives.
The Special Criminal Court heard evidence of garda interviews with Des Ryan (aged 54), who has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation within the State, namely the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on August 8, 2010.
Ryan, of Tubberfinn, Donore, Drogheda, has also pleaded not guilty to the unlawful possession of a sawn-off, 12-gauge side-by-side shotgun and two 12-gauge Eley shotgun cartridges at Ecco Road, Dundalk on the same date.
His co-accused Neil Smith (aged 34), also with an address at Tubberfin, Donore, Drogheda has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation within the State, namely the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on the same date.
Detective Garda Brendan Tighe told Ms Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, prosecuting, that in interview at Drogheda garda station Ryan told gardaí he was not a member of, or sympathiser with, any illegal organisation.
Ryan said that on the morning of August 8, 2010, he and his close friend Neil Smith called to a house in Stonetown, Co Louth and agreed to go with the man living there to price a building job at an address in Dundalk. He said the group travelled in a people-carrier type car and that the estimate was given to a man named “Philo” who lived approximately 20 minutes drive from the town.
He told gardaí that on the way back from giving this estimate the men stopped for an ice cream at a garage outside of Dundalk. Ryan told detectives that when the group subsequently drove away from the garage “all hell broke loose” on the road and he was arrested by gardaí.
The court previously heard evidence from surveillance gardaí who followed the movements of five men travelling in two cars - a black BMW car and a silver Ford Galaxy MPV - on the morning of August 8. The court heard the BMW had been stolen from an address in Northern Ireland three days previously.
Detectives told the court that Des Ryan was initially travelling in the black BMW but was dropped off at a roundabout on the Castletown Road and collected shortly afterwards by the Ford Galaxy.
There was evidence that the two cars travelled together and at one point paid “particular attention” to a Maxol garage situated on the Castletown Road on the approach to Dundalk.
Gardaí who stopped the black BMW found a loaded 12-gauge, sawn-off shotgun, a black balaclava and a Hallowe’en mask after a search. Officers also noted that the car was fitted with false number plates.
It is the prosecution case that evidence of the movement of Des Ryan from the black BMW to the Ford Galaxy will prove beyond a reasonable doubt there was a connection between the two cars and that the men travelling in them were involved in a joint enterprise.
The trial continues in front of presiding judge Mr Justice Paul Butler.
