A TEENAGER described as a foot soldier for the McCarthy-Dundon criminal gang in Limerick, has been jailed for six years for possession of a high-powered firearm which gardaí believe was destined for use in a gangland retaliation attack.
John Collins, from Monabraher Road, Ballynanty, Limerick, went to retrieve the 9mm Browning semi-automatic pistol from a “hiding hole” in a field outside Limerick at a time when tensions between the city’s feuding gangs were at “boiling point” the Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday.
The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to possession of the firearm and 15 rounds of ammunition at Carrigmartin, Ballyneety, Co Limerick, on May 26th, 2010.
Limerick brothers Kieran and Eddie Ryan were jailed for a total of 14 years last July after they pleaded guilty to similar charges arising out of the same incident.
The Moyross brothers who were at the centre of an alleged kidnapping scare in 2003 are the sons of gangland figure Eddie Ryan (41) who was shot dead in the Moose Bar in Limerick city 11 years ago.
At yesterday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Carroll Moran said he accepted that Kieran Ryan, who was jailed for eight years, was “the most culpable of the three” but he said it was clear from Garda evidence that Collins was involved in retrieving the gun.
In his evidence Sgt Pádraig Byrnes of Roxboro Garda station said Collins had travelled with the Ryans in a silver Toyota Avensis to retrieve the gun, which was hidden in a field in a rural part of Co Limerick near the village of Ballyneety.
He agreed with prosecution counsel John O’Sullivan that Collins was a foot solider for the McCarthy Dundon gang and that he was naive and easily led.
Mr O’Sullivan told the court the firearm was essentially being collected from a “hiding hole”.
The court heard the fully functioning high-powered pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition suitable for the weapon were retrieved two days after Daniel Philips, another member of the same gang, was seriously injured after he was shot in the head in St John’s Square in Limerick city on May 24th, 2010.
“As a result of this tensions between the major feuding gangs were at boiling point,” Sgt Byrnes explained.
The Garda witness said “retaliation was contemplated by the McCarthy-Dundons” and added that Collins and his associates were intent on carrying out retaliation.
The court also heard an armed member of the special detective unit was injured when gardaí tried to stop the car being driven by Kieran Ryan as it made its way back towards Limerick city.
Before imposing sentence, Judge Moran accepted that Collins who had just one previous conviction prior to this incident, was “easily led by persons much more sinister than him”. He described the offence as “very serious” and said there was no difference between Collins and Edward Ryan whom he also jailed for six years.
The sentence was backdated to last May when Collins first went into custody.