This article is from page 85 of the 2008-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 85 JPG
A MAN called ‘Tony’ called to Rob- ert Howard’s home and informed him there were contracts on the lives of himself, his brother and his father and sought €100,000 to cancel them, the court heard on Friday.
Robert Howard was at home at Ballaghboy, Doora, on the outskirts of Ennis on September 26, 2006, when he received a phone call on his mobile, at around 10.30pm.
“A male voice on the phone said, ‘T heard you lost a few computers’. I said, ‘I did’. He said, ‘I’ll be at your house in five minutes.’ That was it,” Mr Howard told the trial, during his 25-minute spell in the witness box on Friday.
“The next thing, I heard a knock on the door, five minutes later,’ he added.
Asked by prosecution counsel Tom O’Connell had he considered phon- ing the gardai, he said he had, but, “I didn’t know if someone was going to show.”
On hearing the knock at around 10.35pm, he answered the door.
A man standing at the door said to him, “Hello, I’m Tony.”
“I stood outside the door of the house. He picked up the blue Toshiba laptop computer and handed it to me,” he said.
Mr Howard said he then went into the house and told his brother Niall to call the gardai. He returned outside and was then told about the contracts on the three lives.
“He said there were contracts on the three of our lives, for €130,000. He said he didn’t want to do it. He wanted me to buy the contract out for € 100,000,” he said.
He said that ‘Tony’ also had paper- work in his hand, including directions
to his house and also to PJ’s house and to an address in Kilkee.
The conversation, he said, lasted about 20 minutes, during which time his brother Niall was inside the door “keeping watch.”
He said ‘Tony’ had a print-out from a computer, featuring two photo- graphs. One was a photograph of PJ Howard and Sharon Collins, while the other was a photograph of PJ ona
boat. “It looks like Spain,” he said.
‘He showed me the photograph. I took it from him. I wouldn’t give it back to him,” he said.
Mr Howard said he returned inside the house to enquire where the gardai were. When he went outside again, ‘Tony’ was leaving in a car.
He tried to follow him in his jeep, but the lights were switched off in ‘Tony’s’ car and he did not manage to
get the registration number. He said he “lost him at the crossroads.”
Asked to describe the man, he said he was about 5 foot 11, in his mid- 40s, wore a baseball cap and track- Suit, was clean shaven with sallow skin and wore glasses.
He said he thought his accent was Algerian, “even though he told me he was Italian.”
Later that night, at around 12.30am,
he said ‘Tony’ phoned him again, asking him if he had “started to get the money together” for him yet.
“T said ‘Yes’. He said he would give me a ring tomorrow,” recalled Mr Howard.
Mr Howard told the court that he was a director of a company, Downes and Howard property investment business, located at 7A Westgate Business Park, Kilrush Road, Ennis, of which his father PJ was the prin- leet e
His younger brother Niall also worked in the business, as did Sha- ron Collins.
He told the jury that on Septem- ber 25, 2006 – the day before he was visited by “Tony’ – he worked in the company’s office. His brother Ni- all was the last person to leave that Aon nenee
The following morning he returned to work and noticed that of the two locks on the door, the Chubb lock was not locked.
He went upstairs to the office and noticed that the alarm was not on.
“T had a quick look around. There was a laptop and computer missing,” he said. Also missing was a picture of old Irish money, a digital clock and computer cables.
He said the laptop, Toshiba brand, was worth around €1,000 and be- longed to himself. A desktop com- puter had also been taken from the reception area.
He said that just six people had keys to the premises and knew the alarm code – himself, his brother Niall, his father PJ, Sharon Collins, their handyman Dan Fitzgerald and their cleaner Kathleen McMahon.
“When the burglary took place, PJ and Sharon were in Spain,” he said.