Man accused of being “inside man” in tiger kidnapping is innocent family man, says defence barrister
A defence barrister has told a jury that a man accused of being the “inside man” in a tiger kidnap and robbery is an innocent family man and not a hardened criminal.
Niall Byrne (36) of Crumlin Road Flats, Dublin and three other men deny falsely imprisoning cash-in-transit driver Paul Richardson and his family at their home in Raheny, Dublin on March 13 and 14, 2005. They also deny robbery of €2.28m.
In his closing address at the trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Feargal Kavanagh SC, defending Mr Byrne, said his client was somebody with no previous convictions with a very respectable family.
The jury has heard evidence of phone contact between Mr Byrne's mobile and a phone allegedly linked to Jason Kavanagh, who was previously convicted of taking part in the kidnap and robbery.
Counsel for Mr Byrne said his client had nothing to hide about his links to Kavanagh, who he described as a “dangerous man”.
He said that Mr Byrne told gardai that Kavanagh rang him on the morning of the robbery but told them “it's not what you think”. He said Mr Byrne confirmed Kavanagh's number to gardaí.
“He had no idea of the ramifications of this. He may have suspected by April 2005 that Jason Kavanagh was involved. He had no difficulty in incriminating him by volunteering his number,” counsel said.
He said this was not the behaviour of a hard-nosed criminal but of somebody with nothing to do with the crimes and coming clean to gardaí.
He said his client was linked to Kavanagh because he knew Kavanagh's wife and had babysat for her.
Niall Byrne, Christopher Corcoran (70) of Rosedale, Raheny; Mark Farrelly (47) of Moatview Court, Priorswood, Coolock and David Byrne (45), of Old Brazil Way, Knocksedan, Swords have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to the false imprisonment of Securicor driver Paul Richardson and his family at their home at Ashcroft, Raheny, Dublin, on March 13 and 14, 2005.
The four have also pleaded not guilty to robbing Mr Richardson and Securicor of €2.28 million on March 14, 2005. This is the fifth time the matter has come to trial.
Judge Melanie Greally told the jury today she will charge it in the law tomorrow
Counsel said that there was no need for the gang to have an “inside man” because Securicor had around 200 employees. Some of these had being fired and many had robbed Securicor themselves, he said.
The same security procedures were in place for two decades and 100s of people would know about these, counsel told the jury.
The prosecution have provided evidence of phone calls between Jason Kavanagh and Mr Byrne on the morning of the robbery and have said one of these was a wake up call to ensure Mr Byrne got up and went into work.
“No serious crime gang members requires a wake up call on the morning of a job like this,” counsel submitted. He said the calls may have been attempts by Jason Kavanagh to ring Mr Byrne, unbeknownst to him, during the robbery.
“Fortuitously, by an act of god, Niall Byrne didn’t have his phone on him,” counsel said. He added that there was no evidence all of the calls were returned and that the calls do not indicate any degree of involvement by his client.
He said phone evidence that the gang gathered together in north west Dublin after the robbery did not show Mr Byrne's phone in that location that day.
Counsel said that his client was “on the periphery if anything” and asked “where is the evidence that he knew about the bigger plan?”
Mr Kavanagh told the jury that the prosecution case against his client was too weak to convict him. If they convicted Mr Byrne on the basis of the evidence in this case, they would lower the bar so much that “we're all at risk of a future conviction”.
