Month: July 2008

ROBERT Howard phoned a secu- rity firm in a nervous disposition and asked for personal security, claiming that he had been threatened.

The director of an Ennis-based se- curity firm, Kevin Cooper told the court yesterday that Robert phoned him on September 26, 2006, asking for him to provide security for him.

Mr Cooper, who provides security to homes and businesses, said, “He rang me in the evening time, ask- ing me if I could supply him with security, personal security. He said he’d been threatened. I said, ‘Ya.’ He

sounded urgent,” he said.

He said that Mr Howard asked to meet him the following day and they met at the Howards’ family business at Westgate Business Park in Ennis.

“He said, ‘I just want someone to be around me and mind me. Someone made a threat.’ He said that the offic- es had been broken into. He seemed very nervous,’ said Mr Cooper.

However, he said that Mr Howard did not follow up on it. He never con- tacted me again after that,” he said.

The court also heard yesterday from an employee of the Howards, who said that PJ had a temper.

Dan Fitzgerald, who provides gen-

eral maintenance and support to the Howard family business, agreed with counsel for Sharon Collins, Michael Bowman, BL, that PJ had a “bit of a temper’ and was someone you “wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of”.

He also agreed that PJ was a “par- ticular man, with exacting stand- ards” and who took pride in his be- longings.

Mr Bowman put it to him that a cabinet had been damaged at Bal- lybeg House, at a party that Sharon Collins’ two sons Gary and David had hosted in August or September 2006.

Mr Fitzgerald agreed that Sharon was concerned about the damage and had made several attempts to get it repaired, prior to PJ returning home from Spain.

The witness also agreed that PJ still spends much of his time in Spain, while Robert has moved back into the family home, Ballybeg House.

Mr Bowman put it to Mr Fitzgerald that Sharon would say that house was too big and he agreed. “Yes, some- times she would say the house was too big,” he said.

Another witness, Gerard O’Donoghue — a company direc- tor with Ennis-based computer firm

Boots Systems Ltd — told the court that Sharon Collins grasped the workings of computers, but wasn’t competent on the technical side.

He said he went to the Downes and Howard business in Ennis on May 11, 2006, on foot of a request from Sharon Collins. He said that she wanted to be able to view documents pertaining to the business, while she was in Spain.

“T installed ftp (file transfer proto- col) so there would be two identical copies, so she could access it in Spain and Niall and Robert (could access the same information) in the office at the same time,’ he told the court.

SHARON Collins was concerned about her youngest son’s frame of mind, as news of the Garda investi- gation began to spread around Ennis last year.

That was her message to the Di- rector of Public Prosecutions, in her third letter last May.

In the letter, dated May 25, she said, “I’m writing what now appears to be

my monthly letter to you. Hopefully it won’t be as long this time.”

‘We had hoped for good news this week, so we could get on with our lives,” she said.

She said her youngest son David was “more of a casualty than any- body”.

“It would appear that news of the investigation has got around town,’ she stated, adding that her mother had not heard about it but “it’s out

Woke

She said she had tried to put herself in a murderous frame of mind and had asked herself several questions:

“T certainly know it would be traced. .. The question of timing, why then, why the rush, why not wait until I have inheritance rights?”

She said that PJ had just helped David to buy a house and had assisted her to buy an apartment in Limerick.

“T don’t see why I’d want anybody

to get into the office. I think a five- year-old would have covered their tracks better. I’m not stupid enough to leave a trail like that,’ she added.

She said that herself and PJ had of- ten debated the execution of Saddam Hussein. While PJ thought it was wrong, she believed it could have been done more humanely, she said.

In a PS added to that letter, Ms Collins said that her son David had phoned her, upset.

“He told me if he didn’t tell his boss what was wrong, he would be fired. He wanted to confide in him. For the first time in my life, I told him not to tell the truth. I told him to lie. Is it fair that a young man should suffer like this?” she asked.

“Do I tell him to go ahead and re- veal what’s tearing our family apart? I’ve a very bad feeling about him and his frame of mind right now,’ she concluded.

SHARON Collins was at “breaking- point” and had contemplated suicide, after she was questioned by gardai in relation to an alleged conspiracy to murder her partner and his two sons.

She said that “charging me with this would only serve to feed a me- dia frenzy”.

In her second letter to the DPP, Sha- ron Collins said she felt “compelled” to write again, having seen an article in the Daily Star newspaper that day, April 28, 2007.

She said the article had stated that a rich wife had hired a man to pot- son her husband. She said that PJ had received a call from a garda regard- ing the article, indicating that it was related to their investigation.

She said that PJ met gardai and she went to Spain that evening, from where she wrote the letter.

She said she was blackmailed and “perhaps someone had been hired to frame me. I have very, very strong suspicions regarding it, but am not sure So can’t accuse anyone.”

“I think now I should have gone to the gardai earlier. I read in the paper that it was thrown away. Thankfully no-one was harmed,” she added.

“PJ’s solicitor and his sons have put him under enormous pressure to end his relationship with me,” she

added.

“PJ and I have waited for this time for my boys to be independent so we can spend time together. We were as happy as Larry. We never got on as well as before this,” he said.

“What am I to do Mr Hamilton? You are the only person who can de- cide if our lives are to be destroyed.

“My life is very much in your hands. I’m quite desperate for all this to stop. . .Please do not have me charged, please let us get on with our lives. I’ve told the truth about every- den betee

“If I am charged, my relationship with PJ will be over,” she said.

She stated that PJ “knows I wouldn’t do that. I’m not a bad person. I’m not a dangerous person. We are a good team. We practically finish each oth- er’s sentences.”

‘“T noticed PJ when I was nine or 10. He was a grown businessman. When he came into my shop eight or nine years ago, it was like a premonition that he was coming to get me.”

She said she was family-oriented, maternal, domesticated according to her husband, outspoken, direct and abrasive, yet “very soft” behind it rae

She said she had opinions on crime and that the death penalty should have its place in certain situations. However she said she was not quite

as opinionated on that these days.

She said her youngest son David was crying on the phone. “He loves PJ like a father. He was sent home from work today. He kept breaking elena 0F

“If I’m charged or in the papers, he’d hear it immediately. I’m afraid one or both of them would take their own lives. I have considered suicide myself,” she said.

She said if she was to be charged, every aspect of their lives would be reported.

She said she would do anything she could to help gardai to find the truth “as I feel strongly a poisonous sub- stance like this should not be found HIM Ne tomereL UNO M Yan

“I’m being wronged with the accu- sations gardai are making, I’m very much at breaking point.”

In a PS added to the letter, the fol- lowing day, she said, “I paid €15,000 to stop someone damaging our re- lationship beyond repair. That was practically all I had. This hiring a killer theory doesn’t make any sense to me, at any level.”

A WITNESS who gave evidence in the trial over three weeks ago has claimed he was intimidated by a garda, after he left the courtroom in the Four Courts.

John Keating, a builder from Lim- erick, told the court yesterday that Detective Garda Terese Flannery said to him, “We’ll be getting hand- cuffs for you here John.”

He said this shocked him. “TI felt intimidated that day, what was said to me outside that door,” he told the ore) bam

He said that after giving evidence in the trial on June 5, he was ques- tioned by gardai for over three hours and was scared.

“*T didn’t know whether I was going to be arrested, after what was said to me. I didn’t know. It was scary,” he Ke) (eM MatoMOUT-DEA on iKosRer-Ne

However, Senior Counsel for the Prosecution, Tom O’Connell said it was Said in a joke.

Detective Garda Terese Flannery refuted the allegation. She told the court yesterday that her role in the trial was to liaise with the witnesses.

She said that she gestured — by putting her hands up — to a number of witnesses, including Mr Keating, that they were being rounded up, at lunchtime, that day.

“T didn’t mention handcuffs. I want- ed to bring them across the road,’ she told the trial.

Asked by Una Ni Raifeartaigh, BL for the Prosecution, was there “some kind of threat arising out of the evi- dence he gave that day’, the garda replied, “Not at all.”

“TI did make that gesture, but I didn’t mention John,’ she said.

When Mr Keating gave evidence on June 5, he told the court that he was with Sharon Collins between 10.30am and 12.40pm or 12.50pm on August 16, 2006.

He said the two had visited a number of properties during that time, including Ms Collins’ mother’s home and Sharon’s former home at Maiville.

Sharon had wanted to extend the Maiville home, in the shape of two self-contained apartments and she had asked him to have a look at it.

The two also went to a tile shop before going to Ballybeg House. Mr Keating returned to Limerick, arriv- ing at around 1.30pm.

Yesterday, his evidence was revis- ited and he was asked by Prosecutor Tom O’Connell did he know Ms Col- Treo 0

‘You refer to her as Sharon. Did you know her?” asked Mr O’Connell.

The witness replied that he had “known them since 1995”. He

said she had introduced him to the Howards and he done a lot of work for them over the years.

Mr O’Connell asked him when did he make a record, in his diary, of events of August 16, 2006.

“You made them up, the entries in the diary,’ said Mr O’Connell, to which he replied, “Excuse me, I didn’t make them up.”

Mr Keating said that Sharon Col- lins’ son Gary contacted him a few weeks before the trial and asked him if he could recall the events of Au- gust 16.

He said he found his diary in his

van and said he remembered the date clearly as he had returned home from the UK, on a ferry, on August 14, having been to his niece’s wedding.

Mr O’Connell put it to him that a statement from the ferry company would say there was no record of him on the dates he had mentioned.

Mr Keating replied that he himself had phoned Stena last Sunday and was told that a new computer system had been installed and records for the past three years could not be ac- ee

Mr O’Connell put it to Mr Keating that his diary entries for August 16

were written in three different inks.

“You used three different pens,’ he said, to which the witness replied, ““T’ve loads of biros, loads of biros at home and in my van.”

He said he could use several biros at any one time.

Detective Inspector Michael Moore said he forensically examined the d1- ary and said, “The only conclusion I could make was that at least three different types of ink were used for the entries of the 16th of August, 2006.”

SHARON Collins wrote three letters to the Director of Public Prosecu- tions, asking that she not be charged and that she be allowed to get on with her ordinary life.

She sent the detailed letters to James Hamilton, on March 13, April 28 and May 25, 2007.

In the first of the letters, Ms Collins said she was referring to her arrest on February 26, 2007.

She said she was writing the letter, with encouragement from her hus- band but against the advice of her solicitor, and said the “whole thing 1s a nightmare beyond belief”.

She spoke of her family, her contact with Maria Marconi and her relation- ship with PJ.

“I’d rather be dead than subject my- self to this. My life is in shambles.

My husband has been told by gardai that I’ve paid money to have him killed but he does not believe it,’ she Sr HLGE

“The thing is, being charged is un- bearable for me. I do believe some- one out there has the capability of setting me up and it had to be done for financial gain.

“Who would want a family killed in one go? It doesn’t make sense to me,” she said.

In the lengthy letter, she went through her life story, explaining how she had married Noel Collins, with whom she had two sons, Gary (23) and David (21). They separated when she was 27.

She met PJ Howard in November 1998. “He was lonely and, like a lot of men, needed a woman to look af- ter him and share his life,’ she said.

“IT loved him and still do very

much. He’s very good to me. I in- vested nearly eight years of my life with him,” she stated.

‘“T’m amazed at how supportive he’s been. He has been told I tried to get him killed yet he still supports me. He knows it’s not true. I am thank- ful of his support at this darkest of times,” she said.

“PJ always looks after me extreme- ly well. It’s just that he wants to look after his business for his sons,’ she said.

She said that both PJ and herself could be “abrasive. We both like to believe we are always right”.

She explained that around the time they met, PJ bought an apartment in Feungirola, Spain. In 2000, he had a quadruple bypass operation and this was a “‘very stressful time” for them.

Some time after, PJ bought a boat in Spain and called it “Heartbeat” on

the suggestion of a friend, after his medical experience.

She explained that PJ’s estranged wife, Teresa, died suddenly from a brain hemorrhage in February 2003 and this was a very sad time for eve- ryone.

She said that as time went on, she realised it was now possible to marry PJ, but he wasn’t keen.

They both agreed it would be vital to have a pre-nuptial agreement if they were to marry.

She said that PJ proposed to her in January 2004, but this was short- lived as his solicitor told him pre- nuptial agreements had no standing in Irish law.

She said they went to Sorrento in October 2005 and after they arrived home they threw a party for family and friends.

She said that a detective said to her

that in 23 years he had never seen so much evidence stacked against someone.

While she admitted she had done “stupid things .. . it all seems so far- fetched”.

“PJ’s son Robert now blames me for all the hassle. I had a fantastic re- lationship with him. He was a cross between a son and best friend,’ she ene e

“Robert is an exceptional young man. I doubt our relationship will be built again. They now hear their sur- rogate mother wants them dead. It’s unbearable,” she added.

“T love PJ Howard. We have a great life together. He took another man’s children into his home and looked after them extremely well. Is this the kind of man any woman would want to kill?” added the letter.

SHARON Collins denied that she was motivated by money, in an in- terview with gardai in June 2007, the trial heard.

She told gardai “money does not float my boat at all”, in the June 26 interview.

Detective Sergeant Michael Molo- ney told the trial that she denied that she would use a Mexican marriage certificate obtained over the internet

to claim the Howards’ money when her partner PJ and his two sons Rob- ert and Niall were dead.

She told gardai that the wedding certificate had not looked genuine. “I haven’t the certificate. I burnt it. I wish I kept it. If you saw it you would see it was not authentic, not lr

She said Robert and Niall didn’t like the idea of Mr Howard becom- ing engaged to her.

‘There was a great deal of dissat-

isfaction in the camp with Niall and Robert when PJ and I came out and got engaged,” she told gardai.

Ms Collins claimed that it was this reaction that had spurred her into paying over €1,000 for a proxy mar- riage over the internet.

“It was just an act of defiance on my behalf, a private one,” she said.

She claimed that she had told Mr Howard about the proxy marriage although he told gardai he knew nothing about it.

“PJ is very straight and if PJ would say I never heard that when he knew that he did you must have done one hell of a job on him,” she told eV KONE

She said she would have signed a pre-nuptial agreement if they had been legally binding in Ireland and said she would have been happy with “just a church wedding”.

Detective Garda Brendan Rouine said that Ms Collins claimed that her writing mentor, Maria Marconi, ex-

isted, despite the fact that gardai had failed to find proof of her existence. She claimed she had kept copies of material she had produced in writ- ing exercises on a disc but had not kept it when she stopped writing. She denied she despised it when PJ asked her to have sex with other men. “That hasn’t been a problem at all since.” She said she did not despise Mr Howard. “Anybody who knows me knows that I don’t and I don’t do good acting. I’m bad at it.”

SOMEBODY in Ireland checked the credit limit of a Clare man’s Ameri- can Express card, while his partner and the Las Vegas poker dealer she is accused of conspiring with to kill him and his two sons were both out of the country, the trial was told on Friday. Garda Annette Ryan said that two calls had been made to American Express Card Services on September 22, 2006 from the offices of Downes and Howard, the property investment

business run by Mr Howard and his sons.

The jury has also heard that on Sep- tember 19, two flights to Ireland on US airlines were charged to the card in the names of Essam Eid and his wife Teresa Engle. A hotel booking with Alpha Reservations was made on the same date.

Gda Ryan told the trial that phone records showed over 70 phone calls between phones related to Ms Collins and those registered to Mr Eid.

She said that the location of the

calls from Ms Collins’ phones cor- responded to her movements between Ireland and Spain, where Mr Howard owned an apartment.

Garda Ryan said she had not investi- gated American numbers dialled from the landline in Ballybeg house, where Ms Collins lived with Mr Howard, because they were not related to the Garda investigation.

Detective Garda Brendan Rouine told Paul O’Higgins SC, defending Ms Collins, in cross-examination, that he had taken as accurate a record

of Ms Collins’ Garda interviews as he could.

“We keep writing and keep it as accurate as we can. We don’t have the facility of a stenographer and no Shorthand,” he said.

He told Mr O’Higgins that he had not recorded a complaint by Ms Col- lins that her words were not being recorded accurately because he was concerned with accurately recording the questions put to her.

He said that Ms Collins had been read over the statement and asked to

sign them if she agreed they were a fair representation of what had been said. She had signed most of the Neos ale

Mr O’Higgins said it was impossible for the jury to watch the video record- ings of the interviews since an earlier attempt to show one in court had en- countered technical problems.

Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, replied that the defence had not pre- viously complained about the re- cordings and he was willing to show Weloeen

AT half-time in this Cusack Cup final, some of those watching the game on the bank beside the stand retreated towards the dressing rooms to take shelter from the squall. It was there they heard Kilmurry Ibrickane manager Micheal McDermott give vent to his fury.

The louder he roared, the more pro- nounced his Cavan accent became — he didn’t quite invoke the spirit of John Joe or ‘Big’ Tom O’Reilly, PJ Duke or Peter Donohue, but such was the power of his invective that Kilmurry Ibrickane — from captain Martin McMahon down to the very last man out of the dressing room — had a mean look about them in the on the resumption. In between the expletives, McDermott had roared: ‘How badly do you want it lads.” He got his answer as Kilmurry stormed back into contention in the second half, taking the game in extra-time before edging home by two points.

“It was a tremendously exciting game if you were neutral, but quite stressful on the line, especially as the game went into extra-time,” said McDermott afterwards. “We got that

bit of luck in the end, Doonbeg could have won in normal time, but things just went our way in the end and it’s great to win.

“We started very well, something we were determined to do because in recent games we have been slow to start. But we went out of it in the centre-field and the diamond around that area as Frank O’Dea came more and more into the game.

‘In the second half we played much more direct ball into the forward line. Mark McCarthy won some cru- cial ball for us and had a great game in what is his first year on the senior team. He really shone through for us, which was a reward for the effort he has put in 1n training.

“We couldn’t start Johnny Daly, while Noel Downes hadn’t trained for two weeks and Michael Hogan had a hamstring problem. Declan Callinan, Even Talty and Mark Kil- leen were out of the backs, so we had to readjust our team a lot.

“It showed the strength of our panel. Darren Hickey came in for his first game in seven weeks, Vinny Talty came in and did a job. It was a great boost to win it, especially the way in which we stood up physically

to the challenge and that’s why we came out on top.”

The victory was Kilmurry Ibrick- ane’s 18th of the season so far — they won nine on the way to winning the O’Gorman Cup and another nine in the Cusack Cup. Six wins at most and the championship will be theirs.

And, it’s the championship that McDermott and everyone in the barony of Ibrickane is demanding. “The league is over with now — it was great to win it, but the focus has always been the championship,’ said McDermott.

“Our first game is against Kilkee and that is vital. Kilmurry Ibrickane’s record against Kilkee isn’t a good one, so we have to get that monkey off our back. That’s the only game we re thinking of now,’ he added.

AN 8l-year-old man lost his life after he suffered a suspected heart attack at the wheel of his car in En- nis last October, an inquest into his death has heard.

William Ryan, of Highfield Park, Ennis, was involved in a two-vehicle accident at Highfield Road, Ennis, shortly before 8am on October 15, 2007.

He and two others were taken to Ennis General Hospital, following the accident. Mr Ryan, a retired civil servant, was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Ennis Coroner’s Court heard from Garda Barry O’Grady who attended

the scene of the accident. He said that road conditions were wet and dull at the time.

The inquest was told that Mr Ry- an’s car veered off the road and then collided head on with a van, on a straight stretch of road.

Consultant pathologist Dr James O’Driscoll carried out an autopsy on the body of Mr Ryan. He said it ap- peared that he had suffered a heart attack, which caused his car to go out of control and hit a van, at Highfield I Xey- Tes

He said that death was due to acute cardiac failure, associated with coro- nary atheroma.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea recorded death due to natural causes.

AN early morning fishing expedition turned to tragedy when a Moldovan man drowned after he was swept out to sea, Ennis Coroner’s Court heard last week.

Efim Lungu (30) died at Blue Pool, Doonbeg, on July 1, 2007. The in- quest into his death heard details of a statement made by Giedrius Janulis. He told gardai that at 3am on July 1, he and two of others left Limer- ick and travelled to Doonbeg to go fishing. He said that one of the three, Efim Lungu, “went down the rope to check how was the fishing below. Me and the third man stayed up on top.”

He said that at 5.45am, the “third man” saw that the waves were very high.

‘He asked him to come up until the waves calmed down and Efim said, “Vl be up in 15 minutes”.

“Shortly afterwards, a wave came from both sides and knocked Efim off the ledge and into the water. The waves were taking Efim away from the coastline and were washing him out to sea. I couldn’t see Efim. He was under the water. We waited 30 minutes to see if he could get out. We were unsure what to do. We left for Limerick after about 30 minutes.”

When they arrived back in Lim- erick, they reported it to the gardai. Kilkee Marine Rescue Service were launched a boat. Mr Lungu’s body was later recovered off Blue Pool.

Consultant Pathologist Dr James O’Driscoll told the inquest that death was due to drowning.