This article is from page 83 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 83 JPG
ROBERT Howard told the trial yes- terday (Monday) that following a series of phone calls, he arranged a meeting with the man who had called to his house seeking €100,000 to cancel the contracts on the three Taerse
He told the court that “Tony’ phoned him at around 12.15pm on September 27 – the day after he had called to his
house – and again at 4.45pm.
“At 12.15 he asked me what time I finished work at and had I started getting the money together. I said, ‘The usual time’,’ said Mr Howard.
He said that during the 4.45pm phone call, ‘Tony’ asked to meet at the bus station at 5.15pm.
Mr Howard said he suggested an alternative location, the Queen’s Ho- oe
Asked by prosecution Counsel Tom
O’Connell had he been in touch with the gardai during this time, he said, “Yes I was.”
He said he went to the Queen’s Ho- tel, as arranged, and sat in the bar. He received another phone call from ‘Tony’ at 5.40pm, telling him to go to the bathroom to meet a lady and she would count the money.
“TI told him, no, I wouldn’t go,” said Mr Howard.
“T contacted Detective Garda (Jar-
lath) Fahy and in turn he told me to go to the lobby of the toilets to meet this lady. I did,’ said Mr Howard.
He said the woman was in her late 40s or early 50s with dark hair and wore a leather jacket.
“She said, ‘Have you got the enve- lope?’ I said, “Have you got the com- puter?’”’ he told the trial.
“At that stage, a plain-clothes garda came past the lobby and she took off,’ said Mr Howard.
Asked had he seen the woman pre- viously, he said, “A few minutes ear- lier I might have seen the lady in the hotel walking past me.” He had never seen her before that day.
He said he never received calls from “Tony’ after that and all the calls made to him were on his mo- bile phone. Much of yesterday was taken up with legal argument, in the absence of the jury and the trial con- tinues this (Tuesday) morning.