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Jim Mansfield jnr arranged meetings with the New IRA and INLA, who were to “help” recover parts of his family’s former property portfolio, a key witness told the Special Criminal Court.
Martin Byrne, who is now in the Witness Protection Program, also told the non-jury court that after a separate meeting with former INLA man Dessie O’Hare and former Republican paramilitary Declan “Whacker” Duffy, asked Mr. Mansfield if he realized how dangerous these people were. However, the witness stated that the defendant replied that he “did not care” and that “he was going to get back what was his.”
The three-judge court also heard that Mr. Mansfield Jr. was “a couple of feet away” when his long-term employee, Mr. Byrne, was taken prisoner by a seven-man gang, which included O ‘ Hare and Duffy. Mr. Byrne testified that he believed that Mr. Mansfield Jr. had set him up and tried to confront him, but he was grabbed from behind and pushed into a waiting car.
Amid increased security arrangements at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Friday, Martin Byrne testified at the trial of Mr. Mansfield (53), of Tasaggart House, Garters Lane, Saggart, Co Dublin, charged with conspiracy to commit false imprisonment and with the attempt to pervert the course of justice five years ago.
The defendant is charged with conspiring with one or more individuals to falsely imprison Martin Byrne on an unknown date between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015, inclusive.
Pleaded not guilty
He is also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by ordering Patrick Byrne to destroy the CCTV footage, with the alleged intention of perverting the course of public justice in connection with the false imprisonment of Martin Byrne at Finnstown House Hotel, Newcastle Road. Lucan, Co Dublin between June 9, 2015 and June 12, 2015.
Mansfield has pleaded not guilty to both charges in the indictment.
It is the case of the prosecution that Mr. Mansfield “effectively handed over” Martin Byrne into the arms of a group of men who falsely imprisoned him and his family.
Presenting evidence in court without a jury on Friday from the jury box where two security men were present, key witness Martin Byrne described the events leading up to June 9, 2015.
Byrne told the prosecutor, Shane Costelloe SC, that he was the director of internal security for the Citywest Hotel in Saggart in 2004 and that Jim Mansfield Senior hired him, but that he knew the defendant very well.
Byrne testified that a receiver, Martin Ferris, took over the Citywest Hotel around 2011 and Delata Hotel Group came in to manage the Citywest Hotel on behalf of the Bank of Scotland. The witness said this did not end his employment with the Mansfields and he was asked by the Delata Group to remain as head of security during the transition, which he agreed to.
‘Paddy Reilly’s Field’
In his evidence, Mr. Byrne said that Saggart Lodge Court, a piece of land known as “Paddy Reilly’s Field” that was at the rear of the Citywest Hotel and the Finnstown House Hotel, later went bankrupt. A third, who was an old friend of Jim Mansfield snr, was hired to act on behalf of the family, as Mr. Ferris did not want to deal directly with Mr. Mansfield snr, he said. It was always understood that Mr. Mansfield Jr. would repossess the properties, originally on the grounds that the receivership was illegal and that they should not have entered when they did, he said. Then a financial sponsor helped the third party buy “Paddy Reilly’s Field” from the receiver.
Byrne explained how the Mansfields had retained control of three lots around the family home, Tasaggart House, which were called “salvage strips,” as they had key access routes to the Citywest Hotel and other properties that could not be sold without them. . The Mansfields believed that by having these “ransom strips on the table” they could negotiate the return of their other properties within the portfolio, he continued. The witness said that the defendant described it as “like buying a house and not owning your front door.”
Byrne said it was understood that the defendant had to pay money to the third party to buy back “Paddy Reilly’s Field”, but that it was never paid, prompting a dispute between Mr. Mansfield and the third party.
Byrne said a series of meetings were arranged so Mansfield jnr could regain control of the properties from the third party. The witness said he was asked to meet with members of the New IRA “to help the defendant” recover “Paddy Reilly’s Field.” The witness said that the defendant was responsible for bringing these people who called themselves the New IRA to the meetings. The defendant said that he also attended meetings with people from the INLA and that Mansfield Jr. had asked them to intervene.
In May 2015, Byrne said he went to a meeting at Keatings Park in Rathcoole with the defendant to get Tasaggart House and The Towers to re-sign with Mansfield jnr. When he arrived at the meeting at Keatings Park, Dessie O’Hare and Declan Duffy were in the reception area, he said. Duffy explained that his involvement would be related to the repossession of Mr. Mansfield’s properties, he said. Byrne said he told the two men that the defendant was dealing with the INLA and the Royal IRA and that he did not believe they should proceed with the meeting. Byrne said Duffy asked him which IRA he was talking about and told which one was under the leadership of another named man. O’Hare and Duffy then left the room, he said.
After that meeting, Byrne said he asked Mansfield jnr if he realized how dangerous these people were and what the consequences would be if they were involved. “He said at the time that he did not care and that he was going to get back what was his,” added the witness. Byrne said he felt the defendant was going his own way and had meetings behind his back.
Handshake
In June 2015, the witness said that Mr. Mansfield Jr. arranged another meeting with O’Hare at Keating’s Park. Mr. Byrne arrived with the defendant and when they entered the reception area of an office complex they were met by O’Hare, who shook hands with Mr. Mansfield Jr. and they both went up the stairs. Mr. Byrne followed them into an upstairs office and then Declan Duffy arrived. Byrne said, “I was surprised because I didn’t see any reason for him to be there.”
The witness recalled that O’Hare told Mr. Mansfield: “You’re done here, you can go.”
When Mr. Mansfield left, the witness became concerned, he continued. He said O’Hare told him his services were no longer needed. Byrne explained: “I said at the time that I had dealt with a lot of issues and problems over the years and I was surprised that they treated me the way they treated me in relation to my relationships with the Mansfields.”
Then Duffy screamed and five other men came into the office, he said.
Mr. Byrne said they told him they were going to take him home to the Towers, and that he had to vacate the premises there. He said he was escorted down the stairs with three men leading and four behind. He said he felt he couldn’t leave and when he asked for time to go home on his own, they refused.
Once downstairs, he said he could see Mr. Mansfield Jr. standing out front. He said: “At that moment I thought I had set myself up and I knew what was happening. I said, ‘you set me up,’ and the guys came up behind and grabbed me. “
He said Mansfield Jr. was “a couple of feet away” when one of the seven men emptied his pockets, pulling out cash, a bank card, his watch and phone.
He said they put him in the back of a navy blue Honda with a man on either side, another in the passenger seat and the driver. “I couldn’t leave,” he said.
O’Hare got to the car and handed the driver a slip with Mr. Byrne’s address, Mr. Byrne said. When Mr. Byrne asked to be released so he could get his wife and son out of their home, he said the man in the front passenger seat punched him in the left side of the face with a clenched fist and said To shut up.
Ford mondeo
The group of seven men and Mr. Byrne traveled in a convoy in a Ford Mondeo, Honda and a white Transit van to the Towers where Byrne was struck a second time by the same man, he said.
When they entered, after passing through a security gate, Mr. Byrne’s wife was there with their son. The seven men entered Mr. Byrne’s house.
When a security man knocked on the door, the gang grabbed him and pulled him inside. O’Hare, Duffy and another man took the security guard to the ground and beat him, the witness said. They then picked him up and took him to another house, before O’Hare told the witness, “Come on, it’s your turn.”
Inside the house he saw the security guard, “in a bad way, going in and out of consciousness as far as the eye could see.”
Mr. Byrne was beaten and suffered a ruptured eardrum and would later need stitches. On a CCTV monitor, he saw an unmarked red Garda car that he knew from the area, parking outside. He said he saw an opportunity to escape and told O’Hare he would get rid of the gardaí. When Mr. Byrne left, he alerted the Gardaí and within minutes a Garda helicopter and Garda cars were at the scene.
The trial continues Monday before the presidency of Judge Alexander Owens, seated with Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain and Judge James Faughnan.
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