A JUDGE withdrew bail from a robbery suspect yesterday on learning that threatening telephone calls had been made to a witness. During the third call the witness was warned "You hung up on me the last time. Are you not reading the newspapers lately. We have a bullet for your head."
The accused man denied making or authorising the calls and said the caller also made a threat against him by saying he had "plans" for him.
But, revoking bail in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court Judge Gerard Buchanan said he had no doubt the calls had been made by or on behalf of the 25 year old defendant. No one else would have any interest in making the threats.
He remanded the accused man in custody to July when he is due to go on trial. He is charged with snatching a handbag in Poplar Row, Ballybough, during October 1995.
The witness saw the snatch and alerted gardai on his car telephone. He later identified the accused man as the culprit.
He told Mr Desmond Zaidan prosecuting, that on March 1st he received a call at 2 a.m. He answered it but the caller remained silent. Minutes later the telephone rang again and the caller said he knew he was a prosecution witness. The witness said he then hung up.
The following night at 11.15pm he again received a call and was threatened there was a bullet for his head. Last Monday his wife also took a call. When she asked the caller for his name, he replied "You know my f---ing name."
The witness said after that he received another threatening call but just hung up. Minutes later the menacing caller rang again and said he knew the witness's address.
The witness agreed with defence counsel, Mr Luigi Rea, that he did not recognise the voice on the telephone. While he had given c/o Store Street Garda Station on his statement, many people knew" him around the Ballybough area. Both he and his family were worried about the calls and found it"
hard to sleep.
The accused man denied making or authorising the calls. He also noted the caller had told the witness that giving evidence at the trial would interfere with plans the caller had for him (the accused). This was a threat against him, he said.
Garda Mathew McMahon said the accused man was already in breach of bail conditions. He had stopped signing on at the Garda station and was also not living in his parents' house as stipulated.