A Dublin man accused of kidnapping the former National Irish Bank chief executive, Mr Jim Lacey, was shot in the left leg two months after the kidnap, the Special Criminal Court was told yesterday.
The court heard that Mr Joseph Kavanagh was shot in the left leg in a house off the South Circular Road on January 18th, 1994.
Mr Kavanagh told gardai that he had been shot for not carrying out the instructions of the gang that kidnapped Mr Lacey and his family in November 1993.
The court heard that Mr Kavanagh told gardai he was himself kidnapped and held for two weeks before agreeing to drive Mr Lacey to the NIB branch at College Green, Dublin, where a ransom of £243,000 was loaded into a van.
Ms Joan Lacey, her four children, and their babysitter were later freed in a stables near the Phoenix Park.
It was the third day of the trial of Mr Joseph Kavanagh (38), of Benbulben Road, Crumlin.
He has denied falsely imprisoning the former chief executive of NIB, Mr Lacey, his wife, Ms Joan Lacey, and their daughter, Ms Suzanne Lacey, at Blackrock, Co Dublin, on November 2nd, 1993.
Mr Kavanagh has also denied stealing cash from Mr Eugene Keenan and demanding cash with menaces. He also denied having a handgun with intent to commit false imprisonment on November 2nd, 1993.
At the end of the prosecution case yesterday, Mr Barry White SC, for Mr Kavanagh, applied for a direction on the grounds that the State had not produced any evidence that negated Mr Kavanagh's account to gardai.
He said the State had not established any connection between Mr Kavanagh and the perpetrators of the events at the Lacey home or the NIB.
Earlier, Garda Paul Doran, Kilmainham, said he was called to Priestfield Cottages, off the South Circular Road, on the evening of January 18th, 1994.
He saw Mr Kavanagh standing in a doorway and he could see that his feet were tied. Mr Kavanagh told him he had been shot in the leg.
Mr Kavanagh said he had gone to the cottages between 7.30 p.m. and 8 p.m. to check the house and after five minutes there was a knock at the door. He said he opened the door and four or five men wearing balaclavas were there, one with a double-barrelled shotgun.
He was forced back into the house and told to lie on a bed. His feet and hands were tied and a bag was put over his head.
The men questioned him about the Lacey kidnap and why he had not taken all the money from the bank. They said he had not carried out his instructions and was going to be shot in the head and his son would also be shot.
Two of the men questioned him and after a while another man came and said to shoot him in the leg. They took the bag from his head and used it as a gag and then shot him in the leg.
Mr Brendan Farrelly, an Evening Herald reporter, said he interviewed Mr Kavanagh in a private room in St James's Hospital.
Mr Farrelly said he asked Mr Kavanagh if he had stage-managed the shooting and Mr Kavanagh denied this and said he had been shot by the gang involved in the Lacey kidnap.
Det Sgt John Melody said that Mr Kavanagh told detectives that he followed a motorcyclist after leaving the NIB on College Green with the ransom money.
Mr Kavanagh said after a journey through Dublin's southside he parked the van with the money in a laneway off Maxwell Road in Rathmines. The motorcyclist then checked the money before telling Mr Kavanagh to go.
The detective said he interviewed Mr Kavanagh in Dun Laoghaire Garda Station on December 9th, 1993. After the interview, Mr Kavanagh went with detectives to various locations in south Dublin where he claimed the events happened.
The trial continues today.