A Mayo farmer on trial for taking part in an alleged “vigilante mob” attack on security men at a repossessed farm told gardaí that he never saw a gun at the scene on the night.
Martin O'Toole (58) of Stripe, Irishtown, Claremorris, Co Mayo, is charged with false imprisonment and assault causing harm to four security personnel at Falsk, Co Roscommon on December 16th, 2018.
He is also charged with false imprisonment of and assault causing harm to the four men, aggravated burglary and four charges of arson of four vehicles at the property. He is further indicted on charges of criminal damage, violent disorder, robbery of a wristwatch from one of the security guards and, finally, cruelty to an animal which was fatally struck during the incident.
The trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard that at around 5 am on December 16th, 2018, a group of approximately 30 armed men, some wearing balaclavas, arrived at the repossessed rural property at Falsk, just outside Strokestown and attacked security guards there. The house had been forcibly repossessed five days earlier.
One of the security men has previously testified that he was attacked at the front of the house and an assailant put a shotgun to his head.
Co-accused men Patrick Sweeney (44) of High Cairn, Ramelton, Co Donegal, Paul Beirne (56) of Croghan, Boyle, Co Roscommon and David Lawlor (43) of Bailis Downs, Navan, Co Meath are each charged with the same offences. All four defendants have pleaded not to the 17 charges put to them.
On day 20 of the trial on Thursday the jury continued to view the video recordings of three interviews of Mr O'Toole by gardaí at Castlerea garda station.
The three interviews conducted took place over two days, on January 10th and 11th, 2019, and lasted in total for over seven hours. The jury was given the transcripts of the interviews on Tuesday but has heard that a transcript is rarely a verbatim record of the original interview.
In the recording of the third interview, which took place in the late evening of January 11th, Mr O'Toole accepted that he had driven to Elfin on the morning of the incident.
Gardaí interviewing him, had told him that he was accused of being involved in an incident in which a gun was produced. They told him that if one of the men there had a gun, “everyone was in the same boat”.
While repeatedly denying he was at the incident, Mr O'Toole also said, “I never had anything to do with a gun”. Asked if he saw firearm being pointed at one of the security men, he said, “Definitely not. I wasn't there”.
“There was no gun, I’m telling you that, I have never saw a gun anywhere,” he said, before adding that it was only gardaí that were telling him “there was a gun there”.
After viewing footage from a body camera worn by one of the security guards when men burst into the back of the house, Mr O'Toole continued to deny he was present and said it wasn't him on the footage, as asserted by gardaí.
“I'm not there. I can't see myself there. I never attacked anyone in my life,” he said.
He later agreed he had gone to the incident after meeting others at Elfin. He said somebody gave him a stick but that he never used it.
He said the car he was a passenger in got lost on the way to Falsk, and by the time they got to the farmhouse, “it was nearly over”.
“At no stage was there ever a gun seen. There was no gun there. Unless someone had it in their pocket...there was no gun there that I seen anyway,” he said.
Mr O'Toole later said that in meeting with the others in Elfin, he said, “I knew it had something to do with taking back the house, but I thought it was just going to be a show of hands”.
Referring to the presence of gardaí at the eviction five days before the attack on the security men, he told the gardaí interviewing him, “You did not do your job, so the people took over.
“You stood by, you aided and abetted foreigners, you stood there, now you’ve a big shite on your hands, and everyone is trying to blame innocent people”. The trial continues.
