A murder defendant told a jury at the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he had "absolutely nothing" to do the death of a man beaten and shot at point-blank range.
"I want to make it abundantly clear, I can look anyone in the eye. At no time did I have Mark Dwyer taken out of his home or beaten or shot. I wasn't party to it at all. I had absolutely nothing to do with Mark Dwyer's death," he said.
Mr Joseph Delaney (54), formerly of La Rochelle, Naas, Co Kildare, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Dwyer (23) on or about December 14th, 1996.
He has also pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning Mr Dwyer and detaining him against his will at Foster Terrace, Ballybough, Dublin, on December 14th, 1996.
The prosecution alleges Mr Dwyer was shot dead after being tortured for a number of hours in a revenge killing, after 40,000 ecstasy tablets, owned by the accused, went missing.
Denying statements made by prosecution witness Ms Adrienne McGuinness that the deceased was tortured for hours at his home, Mr Delaney said "Mark Dwyer was never beaten in La Rochelle."
He said Ms McGuinness demanded £5,000 and a car from him to stop her making the allegations. While in custody, Mr Delaney said he told gardai that he would plead guilty to murder if they freed Scott.
Mr Delaney said in the early hours of December 1st, 1996, Scott and a number of armed and masked men arrived at his home in Naas, Co Kildare, with Mr Dwyer who was hooded and bound. Upon arriving he said Scott had said: "You've been putting pressure on me because of the Es and I'm bringing down Mark to sort it out."
One of the masked men interrogated Mr Dwyer in the master bedroom about the drugs, Mr Delaney said, but all three men, Scott Delaney and Mark Dywer left after 30 to 40 minutes.
The case before Mr Justice Quirke and a jury resumes today.