Another massive murder investigation is under way in Limerick, writes CONOR LALLY, Crime Correspondent
IT IS barely six months since the shooting dead of Shane Geoghegan on his way home from watching the Ireland-Canada rugby match in a case of mistaken identity.
One man has already been charged with Shane Geoghegan’s murder and further charges are expected against others involved in the killing last November.
But just as gardaí had got a handle on that “watershed” killing, 35-year-old father of two Roy Collins has been shot dead and another massive murder investigation is now under way in Limerick City.
Like Mr Geoghegan, Mr Collins was never involved in criminal activity.
The investigation into Mr Collins’s murder is obviously still in its very early stages. But his family had been issued with gangland threats in the past and gardaí are investigating if those threats are linked to yesterday’s murder.
Mr Collins was a cousin of Limerick man Ryan Lee. Mr Lee was working as barman in Brannigan’s pub, Mulgrave Street, Limerick, on December 19th, 2004, when he refused to serve alcohol to a 14-year-old girl.
The child’s brother, gangland figure Wayne Dundon, was with her at the time. Dundon made a shape of a gun with his hand and pushed it against Mr Lee’s face, saying “f*** you, you’re dead”.
Less than 30 minutes later a man wearing a helmet entered Brannigan’s pub armed with a sawn-off shotgun. He singled out Mr Lee and shot him twice in the knee and hip.
Wayne Dundon (31), Lenihan Avenue, Prospect, was later sentenced to 10 years for threatening Mr Lee, although nobody was ever convicted of shooting the 19-year-old barman. His sentence was later reduced to seven years.
While Mr Lee is a cousin of yesterday’s murder victim Roy Collins, they were reared as brothers. Mr Collins’s father, Steve Collins, is Mr Lee’s legal guardian.
The Collins family own Brannigan’s pub where Mr Lee was shot.
After Dundon’s conviction it emerged that Mr Lee’s girlfriend received a threatening letter the night after the jury was sworn in for the trial. The letter was addressed to Steve Collins.
Det Sgt Eamonn O’Neill told Dundon’s sentencing hearing that the author of the letter threatened to attack Mr Collins’s staff and his business and also warned him “to look at all the other people that’s dead”.
Wayne Dundon is still in prison for the threat against Ryan Lee and there is no suggestion he carried out the shooting of Mr Collins yesterday. However, gardaí are investigating if Roy Collins’s murder is linked to the threats against his family during Wayne Dundon’s trial.
They are investigating if criminals associated with Wayne Dundon took it upon themselves to shoot Mr Collins in revenge for Mr Lee giving evidence against Wayne Dundon.
Dundon’s sentencing hearing in May 2005 was told that Mr Lee and his family were still under Garda protection as gardaí believed the threat contained in the letter to the family was “very alive and is out there”.
Brannigan’s pub was burned down a month after Dundon’s trial and has never reopened.
Dundon assaulted gardaí while he was being questioned about the threats to Mr Lee. The first time he was put on trial for the threats the jury had to be discharged because one of the jurors received an intimidating phonecall.
Wayne Dundon is a leading member of the McCarthy-Dundon gang. He has been described in Garda evidence in court as one of the most dangerous criminals Limerick has ever produced.
He once mooned at a judge when applying for the return of a bullet-proof vest. His father Kenneth Dundon, a settled Traveller, has a conviction for manslaughter in the UK.
Wayne Dundon’s brother John (29) was jailed for four years for threatening to kill Owen Treacy, whose evidence led to five of Dundon’s associates being jailed for life for the 2003 murder of drug dealer Kieran Keane. Another brother, Dessie, aged 25, is serving life for Keane’s murder.
Both John and Dessie were put on trial but acquitted of the murder of nightclub security man Brian Fitzgerald. He was shot dead in 2002 because he refused to allow drugs to be sold in the club where he worked.
Two of the Dundons’s cousins – Anthony “Noddy” McCarthy (27) of Fairgreen and James McCarthy (29) from Delmege Park – are also serving life for Keane’s murder.
Wayne Dundon and another of his brothers, Ger, last month had two bullet-proof BMWs seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
When two Corkmen were convicted in February 2008 of sourcing an arsenal of weapons from the UK for use in the Limerick feud, Wayne Dundon was named in court as the man who had ordered the weapons.
The haul included some 24 weapons, including two RPG rocket launchers, five AK47 assault rifles, five AR15 semi- automatic assault rifles, two Uzi submachine guns and 10 semi -automatic pistols.
Yesterday’s murder of Roy Collins took place next door the Steering Wheel pub in Roxboro Shopping Centre which is owned by Steve Collins, who also owns the Coin Castle Arcade and Tom and Jerry’s pub in Glentworth Street in Limerick city.
Originally from Dublin, he moved to Limerick with his family when his children were young. He became legal guardian of his nephew Ryan Lee following a family bereavement.
