A former “most wanted” killer has said he was shocked to learn he was barred from a pub in Limerick city after staff there complained of being “fearful” of his presence due to his family’s criminal “reputation”.
Kenneth Dundon (60s) was previously sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter after he repeatedly stabbed a man who “drowned” in his own blood, Limerick District Court heard.
His sons, Wayne, John and Dessie, senior members of the Dundon McCarthy crime group, are each serving life sentences for three separate murders.
Mr Dundon appeared as a witness for Anthony Kelly (60s), of Southill in Limerick, who lodged an objection to an application by Eamonn O’Rahilly for renewal of a licence to operate the Spotted Dog pub, Limerick city.
On April 15th, 2024, Mr Kelly was part of a group playing cards in the pub. Mr Dundon, who was on his own, entered the pub, ordered a drink and sat with Mr Kelly’s party.
The two men bought one another drinks and left the pub together without any problems arising.
However, barman Shane O’Callaghan, who was on duty on the night and who did not recognise Mr Dundon, told the court he overheard a customer exiting the pub commenting that “Kenneth Dundon” had entered the bar.
Mr O’Callaghan said the atmosphere in the pub “changed” and, he said, knowing the “history” of the Dundon family, he telephoned Mr O’Rahilly to let him know he was “fearful” because Mr Dundon was in the pub.
Mr O’Rahilly told the court: “Shane was nervous and he was unsure what to do. I was aware of Mr Dundon and his reputation, and, I wanted to let Shane know that assistance was on the way and that I would get there as soon as I could.”
By the time Mr O’Rahillly arrived at the pub, Mr Kelly and Mr Dundon had left, the two-hour hearing heard.
Mr O’Rahilly said on the following day, April 16th, Mr Kelly returned to the pub alone “and I told him I wasn’t happy with Mr Dundon joining his company, that [Dundon] was a member of a family that was troublesome, and that [Dundon’s] presence at the bar had made customers and staff concerned and nervous, and I was not happy to run the pub under such conditions which would exist if Mr Dundon kept coming in”.
Mr O’Rahilly said he told Mr Kelly he was also barred from the pub, after Kelly asked him if he preferred him to stay away from the pub too.
He said that on April 17th Mr Kelly and Mr Dundon arrived back to the pub “and I felt they were trying to compel me to serve them and their associates with a view to trying to run the pub from outside the counter”.
Mr O’Rahilly said he felt if this happened he “would lose control” of the pub.
The publican said he had already lost a number of customers because of Mr Dundon’s presence on the night, and that if his licence was not renewed, “it would make me unemployed, in a large amount of debt, and it would put my 14 [employees] effectively out of work”.
Mr O’Rahilly told the court Mr Kelly and Mr Dundon had “alluded” in their conversation with him “that as long as they were on the premises my business would be ok, and that’s what I don’t want”. Mr Kelly and Mr Dundon both denied in their evidence to the court that they issued any threats or intimidation.
The publican told the court that Mr Dundon was the type of person “who would put the fear of god” into staff and customers by just being in the pub.
Mr O'Rahilly said Mr Kelly was always someone he and his staff “kept a particular eye on when he was in the bar” but that the “dynamic had changed” and he grew more concerned out of Mr Kelly’s “association” with Mr Dundon.
“Mr Kelly was trying to coerce me into a situation by showing me who his friends were, who he was associated with, and telling me I would be alright because he would keep an eye on things.”
Mr O’Rahilly denied under cross-examination by Mr Kelly’s barrister, junior counsel Liam Carroll, that this was “insulting” to Mr Kelly. “His reputation precedes him,” stated Mr O’Rahilly.
The publican agreed that despite his concerns, he did not make a complaint to gardaí, and that Mr Kelly and Mr Dundon had so far respected the pub ban put in place ten months ago.
Anthony Kelly told the court he was surprised when he found out he had been barred from the pub. He denied suggestions by Mr O’Rahilly’s barrister, junior counsel Thomas Wallace-O’Donnell, that Kelly and Dundon returning to the pub together on April 17th was to “intimidate and threaten” the publican into lifting the ban.
Mr Kelly, who has convictions for hijacking, possessing illegal tobacco and running a shebeen, and who was previously acquitted of murder, as well as possessing a semi-automatic gun with intent to endanger life, said he only went back to the pub with Mr Dundon to try to “resolve” matters.
Mr Kelly said he objected to Mr O’Rahilly renewing his licence because he had felt “disgraced” over the pub ban, which he felt was “unfair” and “prejudiced” against him.
Mr Wallace-O’Donnell said Mr O’Rahilly was entitled to bar people from his pub, particularly, Kenneth Dundon who the barrister suggested was “a member of a profoundly infamous family”.
“His (Dundon’s) presence in the bar made customers concerned, nervous, afraid — having a Dundon there —especially the father of the Dundon family, the Godfather, the paterfamilias of the family,” Mr Wallace-O’Donnell said.
“It’s a matter of public record that Mr Dundon stabbed a man in the face who then drowned in his own blood. He is the father of children, many of who have been involved in feuds, essentially in gang warfare around Limerick and elsewhere,” the barrister added.
Mr Kelly agreed with Mr Wallace-O’Donnell that it was “not” his first time in a court room. The barrister told Mr Kelly he was “not having a go” at his character, but he put it to him that, given his own “reputation, even in the absence of Mr Dundon, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for a publican to be concerned about you coming into their pub”.
Mr Kelly agreed it was “every publican’s right” to bar people for their pubs, but he argued he was “no danger”, he did “not invite Mr Dundon” to go drinking at the pub, and he felt he had “done nothing” to deserve the bar.
Mr Kelly denied Mr Wallace-O’Donnell’s suggestion he had returned to the pub with Mr Dundon “as a show of strength” that he had “a leading criminal family’s godfather figure” with him.
Mr Kelly did not respond after Mr Wallace-O’Donnell asked him, “have you ever heard the expression, a man is judged by the company he keeps”.
Mr Dundon told the court he was shocked when he found out he was barred, because, he said, he had been in the pub “numerous times” despite Mr O’Rahilly’s evidence that he had not seen him in the pub before.
When asked by Mr Kelly’s barrister, junior counsel Liam Carroll, if he wanted “to respond to what has been said, that you are the Godfather of the McCarthy Dundon organised crime group”, Mr Dundon replied: “I’m a pensioner, I’m no Godfather of nothing”.
Answering Mr Wallace-O’Donnell, Mr Dundon agreed he had served six years in prison stabbing a man in the face, and that he had been on “Scotland Yard’s most wanted list”.
Mr Dundon agreed he was the father of Wayne Dundon and John Dundon, who are serving life in prison for murder, and he said Mr O’Rahilly was “entitled” to make his own decisions about who frequented his pub.
Mr Dundon denied trying to intimidate or threaten Mr O’Rahilly: “No way, I never threatened nobody...no nothing like that, it is his pub”.
Judge Patricia Harney said she did not accept that the ban was “capricious in nature” and that she was satisfied Mr Kelly had failed in his objection.
The judge also made an order of costs against Mr Kelly which have yet to be determined.
