A CONVICTED Limerick criminal whose home was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), has been jailed for eight years for intimidating a witness in an upcoming case.
Brian Collopy (38), with addresses at St Senan Street, St Mary’s Park, Limerick, and Ballysimon, Co Limerick, was sentensed at Limerick Circuit Court yesterday for what a judge described as an “attack on the administration of justice”.
The father of four is a brother of the late Philip Collopy who accidentally shot himself in the head with a Glock semi-automatic pistol in March 2009. Philip Collopy and the late crime figure Kieran Keane were responsible for the murder of Eddie Ryan in November 2000, which led to the escalation of the widely publicised Limerick feud.
In 2005 the CAB sold the home of Brian Collopy for €225,000 after they found it was purchased with the proceeds of criminal activity. Collopy bought Ashby House, located in the village of Fedamore, Co Limerick, for €150,000 cash in March 2002. In December 2006 the 38-year-old survived an attempt on his life when he was shot and wounded near St John’s Square in Limerick city.
Yesterday at the Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran said Collopy had been convicted by a jury of intimidating a witness causing the course of justice to be obstructed, perverted or interfered with. The 38-year-old had denied intimidating, or putting in fear, Willie Moran at Island Road, Limerick, on June 9th last.
Judge Moran said Willie Moran, who has been under 24-hour Garda protection since last summer, was a “critical witness” in upcoming criminal proceedings.
“An attack on the fabric of the administration of justice cannot be tolerated because it undermines the courts and criminal justice trials in Limerick,” he added.
During the four-day trial, Mr Moran told the jury he was driving along Island Road in Limerick city on June 9th last with his wife and two young children when Brian Collopy and another man drove up behind them in a white van. He said Collopy made the shape of a gun with his hand and shouted: “Willie, you are going to get it now.”
Evidence was also heard that Collopy shouted: “Ronan won’t save you now”, making reference to Det Sgt Ronan McDonagh of Henry Street Garda station who was liaising with the injured party in the case.
The victim’s wife, Margaret Moran, told the jury the other man travelling with Collopy shouted: “Bang bang Willie, Willie bangs all day”, at her husband.
She said one of her children told his father to drive on as he was frightened and described how her five-year-old son wet himself in the back of the car. After just one hour of deliberations the jury returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.
During the sentencing hearing, Det Garda Ivan Muldoon of Henry Street Garda station said Mr Moran took the threats made by Collopy seriously and since July 2010 he and his family have been under 24-hour Garda protection.
He said Mr Moran had been an associate of the Collopy family up to April 2010 until an incident occurred.
Det Garda Muldoon said the Gardaviewed the intimidation in the case as at the higher end of the scale.
Before imposing the eight-year sentence yesterday, Judge Carroll Moran said it was “hard to imagine a more serious offence”. He acknowledged that no weapon had been used and that there had been no violence.
He said Collopy had a number of previous convictions arising out of 21 separate court appearances since 1990 but described them as being “of a minor nature”.
Judge Moran also referred to medical evidence that the 38-year-old has a life-long cardiac condition.
He described an attempt to get Mr Moran to withdraw his statement from his solicitor as a further illustration of the pattern of intimidation and said given the extreme seriousness of the case, he was imposing an eight-year jail term.