Two charged with murder of Roy Collins

Two men have appeared before the non-jury Special Criminal Court charged with the murder of businessman Roy Collins, who was shot dead four years ago in an amusement arcade owned by his family.

Mr Collins (35), a father of two, was gunned down in Coin Castle Amusements, Roxboro Road Shopping Centre, Limerick, on April 9th, 2009.

Wayne Dundon and Nathan Killeen were yesterday charged before the court in Dublin with the murder of Mr Collins.

Dundon (34), Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, Limerick, spoke only to confirm his name while Killeen (22), Hyde Road, Prospect, replied “Yes” when asked by the registrar if the name on the charge sheet was correct.

Both men are already serving prison sentences for unrelated crimes and were brought to the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin’s north inner city yesterday to appear before the court.

Evidence of arrests

Det Garda Paul Crowley of Roxboro Road Garda station told the court he had arrested Dundon yesterday morning in the courts building and had informed him he was being charged with murder.

Det Garda Brian O’Connor, of the same Garda station, said he had arrested Killeen in the courts complex just before he was brought before the court.

Shane O’Callaghan, for Dundon, told the court that the case had already attracted considerable media attention.

He told the judges that a politician from Limerick had gone on local radio and had congratulated gardaí on the arrest of his client in relation to the murder of Mr Collins.

Mr O’Callaghan asked the court to grant an order to restrain such comment, including in the media.

Mr Justice Paul Butler, presiding with Judge John O’Hagan and Judge Flan Brennan, said that the court was “not inclined to lecture people”.

He added it was an open court but clearly there should not be comments on the merits of an upcoming trial or case.

“You are fortunate in that there isn’t a jury,” he told Mr O’Callaghan.

Mr Justice Butler said the court was unaware of any statements by public representatives and the court would not make any direction to the media in the case.

When the possibility arose of the suspects appearing before the courts on the next occasion via video link from prison, Mr O’Callaghan said there was no video link in the prison in which Dundon was being held.

Another prison

He added that his client would need to be taken to another prison farther away than the courts and that this did “not suit” Dundon.

It was then decided the men would appear again in the court rather than video link after Mr O’Callaghan was informed that his client was within his rights to decline to appear by video link.

At the conclusion of the brief hearing, both men were remanded in custody to appear again before the three-judge court on April 23rd.