Verdict in Lunney attack case put back

A verdict in the trial of four men accused of the kidnap and serious assault of Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney has been put back until early next month.

A decision in the case against Luke O’Reilly (68) from Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy; Darren Redmond (27) from Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin; Alan O’Brien (40) of Shelmalier Road, East Wall; and a fourth accused, known as YZ (40), who cannot be named for legal reasons, was due to take place this Friday, October 22.

All four men deny abducting and assaulting Mr Lunney, who was kidnapped from outside his Co Fermanagh home, bundled into the boot of a car and later tortured at a site outside Ballinagh in September 17, 2019.

The verdict will now be given at the non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday, November 8.

Justice Tony Hunt presided over the trial, which ran for several weeks, together with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh.

It had initially been thought the trial might run for as long as three months due to the amount of evidence and witness statements collected by investigating gardaí.

Defence barristers have asked the court to consider direct acquittals for each of the four men due to what they say is a lack of evidence.

The trial previously heard evidence in relation to contacts between mobile phones used in the organisation and commission of the alleged offences.

The court also viewed CCTV footage of various vehicles moving between Dublin and Cavan on the day of the offences, as well as the movements of certain individuals interacting with those same vehicles.

The court heard how DNA samples were taken from a Renault Kangoo van the prosecution believes was used by Mr Lunney’s attackers in the course of his kidnapping.

Mr Lunney himself told the court how he was bundled into the boot of a car near his home and driven to a container where he was threatened and beaten and told to resign as director of Quinn Industrial Holdings, now rebranded Mannok.

His abductors then cut him with a Stanley knife, carving the letters ‘QIH’ into his chest, stripping him to his boxer shorts and dousing him with bleach in a bid to foil any subsequent forensic investigation.

They also broke the businessman’s leg with a wooden bat, before abandoning him on a country road at Drumcoghill in the Crossdoney area where he was later discovered by a man driving a tractor.