Kevin Lunney trial: Three guilty of abduction and attack
- Published
Kevin Lunney was tied up, had one leg broken and was slashed on the face and chest with a knife
Three men have been found guilty of abducting and torturing Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney.
Mr Lunney, 51, was kidnapped outside his County Fermanagh home in September 2019 and seriously assaulted.
A fourth man, Luke O'Reilly, 68, of Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy in County Cavan was acquitted by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin.
It found there was a reasonable doubt he knew what had been planned.
All four were accused of falsely imprisoning and intentionally causing harm to Mr Lunney.
Alan O'Brien, 40, of Shelmalier Road and Darren Redmond, 27, from Caledon Road, both in East Wall, Dublin, were found guilty of both counts.
Also convicted was another 40-year-old man who can only be known as YZ for legal reasons.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the court was satisfied YZ was the driver of the black Audi that arrived to abduct Mr Lunney from his home on 17 September 2019 and that he was responsible for inflicting most of Mr Lunney's serious injuries.
Luke O'Reilly leaves the court on Monday after being acquitted
The trial heard from Mr Lunney that he was bundled into the boot of an Audi A4 near his home in County Fermanagh and driven across the border to a remote farm site where he was tied up, beaten, slashed on the face and chest with a Stanley knife.
He also had his leg broken with two blows of a wooden bat.
Mr Lunney, a father of six, had the initials QIH carved into his chest.
'Dumped on a roadside'
His attackers allegedly told him over and over to resign as a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings and to drop defamation cases north and south of the border.
He said they also told him they had been watching him for six weeks and knew all about his daughter in the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) top.
His ordeal lasted two and a half hours before he was dumped on a roadside in County Cavan.
The court heard Mr Lunney attempted to escape from the boot of the car he had been put in and that one of his kidnappers telephoned another man and said: "Boss, this man resisted and we had to hit him."
Cyril McGuinness died from a suspected heart attack during a police raid on his home in Derbyshire in November 2019
The court heard that led to the gang being concerned about DNA evidence and the kidnappers then bought bleach which was rubbed into Mr Lunney.
Gardai (Irish police) were able to identify the man who bought the bleach as Mr O'Reilly.
However, on Monday Mr Justice Hunt said that although Mr O'Reilly had lied in his Garda interviews, there was reasonable doubt about whether he knew what the purpose of the bleach he had purchased and handed over to the gang was.
The prosecution said that from that purchase and with the use of dialled mobile phone calls, DNA and CCTV footage they were able to identify the other defendants and Cyril McGuinness, also known as Dublin Jimmy, who died from a suspected heart attack during a police raid on his home in Derbyshire in November 2019.
The presiding judge, Mr Justice Hunt, said Mr Lunney was a composed witness and was remarkably accurate in his recollection of what happened to him.
He added that Mr Lunney was a most impressive and careful witness.
Mr Lunney and senior executives from QIH were in court for the verdicts.
Afterwards, Mr Lunney issued a statement thanking the Garda, PSNI, DPP and the justices of the Special Criminal Court "for their diligence, time and effort in bringing the investigation and trial to this point.
"I also want to thank all those who supported my family at the time of and since the attack, most especially my colleagues at Mannok, the local community and the countless friends and strangers for their prayers and well wishes," he said.