Jury hears evidence of Garda interviews in art criminal damage trial

A man accused of damaging two paintings at the Shelbourne hotel told gardaí after his arrest he had been at the premises to visit the hotel spa.

Andrew Shannon (50) of Willans Way, Ongar, Dublin 15, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to damaging two paintings – Morning Strand and Evening Strand – by Felim Egan, at the Shelbourne hotel on January 8th last. Mr Shannon has further pleaded not guilty to damaging a Claude Monet painting entitled Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sail Boat (1874) at the National Gallery of Ireland on June 29th, 2012.

‘False confession’

Garda Eugene McCarthy told Kerida Naidoo, prosecuting, he was present when gardaí interviewed Mr Shannon on two occasions on January 31st, 2014. He said Mr Shannon told gardaí he was with his nephew to visit the hotel spa and had not caused any damage to the painting. He told them to check with staff and said they were trying to get a “false confession”.

Gardaí put it to him that his explanation was not reasonable and he replied that it was. He asked gardaí what the CCTV footage showed. He told gardaí they had been looking for the spa and had spoken to a member of staff.

Garda McCarthy agreed with Michael Bowman, defending, that before Mr Shannon saying he had contact with a staff member gardaí had been unaware of any interaction.

He said the woman did not recall meeting Mr Shannon. He agreed that not all staff in the hotel who had been working on the 8th were spoken to. Det Sgt Michael Fitzgerald told Mr Naidoo he attended at the Shelbourne hotel on January 15th. He agreed with Mr Bowman that Mr Shannon was seen on CCTV going into a room, the Adams suite, which leads to the room where the paintings are, the Deirdre suite, but that there was no evidence he was actually in the Deirdre suite.

Consultant surgeon Nicholas Walcot told Mr Bowman that in July 2013 Mr Shannon underwent a quadruple heart bypass and that he had 90 per cent blockage in three vessels of the heart and one was completely blocked. He agreed that Mr Shannon had unstable angina and symptoms could arise without any external stress factors. He agreed with Mr Bowman a person could have had a cardiac episode even though their vitals were normal. The trial continues.