Dublin man jailed for armed robbery

Man set up friend who was shot dead, court told

A murder trial jury heard yesterday that the accused man had admitted
helping to set up the abduction of a friend later shot dead in a
ganglandstyle execution after a failed drugs deal.

Mr Scott Delaney told gardai he knew Mark Dwyer was to be abducted, taken
for questioning and "the truth got out of him" about missing ecstasy
tablets worth £20,000.

Regarding the question of a weapon being carried he told detectives: "I
knew there was going to be a piece on the job, but I thought it was just to
frighten Mark and get the truth out of him."

Mr Delaney told how the gang, one of them armed with a sawnoff shotgun,
broke into Dwyer's flat in Ballybough, Dublin, where the victim said to
them: "Is this death for me this time, lads?"

It was the third day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court of Mr
Delaney, of Palmerstown Park, Palmerstown, in Dublin.

He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Dwyer (22), of Foster Terrace,
Ballybough, Dublin, on December 14th, 1996. Delaney has also denied falsely
imprisoning him on that date at Foster Terrace.

The body of Mark Dwyer was found in a field at Scribblestown, Finglas,
early that morning after a 999 call to gardai. An anonymous male caller
said the bodies of two drug dealers would be found there as "a warning to
all drug dealers".

The prosecution contends that although Mr Delaney did not pull the trigger,
he was part of the enterprise to abduct Dwyer and knew he was going to be
killed or caused serious injury.

Prosecuting counsel Mr Patrick Gageby SC yesterday read to the jury a
series of statements made by Mr Delaney to gardai after the shooting.

Describing the abduction in the early hours of December 14th, Mr Delaney
said he and Dwyer were taken out of the flat and put into the back seat of
a car.

The accused man told gardai Dwyer had said to the gang that he would tell
them what they wanted to know. He said: "I think I passed out."

"The next thing I remember I was in a field and I heard a shot. At first I
thought I was after getting it then I passed out." He woke later in hospital.

Mr Delaney, in this interview, told gardai one of the gang had a Northern
accent and gave the orders and the others spoke with Dublin accents.

In the course of a later interview, Mr Delaney said he and Dwyer had sold
drugs for about two years. "He is a mad bastard. Things were getting out of
hand. He was too heavy for me."

In another interview, he told gardai the £20,000 worth of ecstasy tablets
went missing after a drugs deal went wrong at a pub in Coolock.

He and Dwyer were blamed by the dealer because they were supposed to
collect the drugs. Mr Delaney said he did not know how they went missing.

On the day before the murder he was called on his mobile phone by the
dealer to ensure that a meeting with Dwyer had been arranged. The plan was
to question Dwyer about the missing drugs.

He said he "bottled it" at first and did not want to do it. He claimed he
wanted to tell Dwyer "to leg it but I was afraid he would kill me".

At 1.15 a.m. on December 14th while he was in the flat the dealer rang his
mobile phone to make sure Dwyer was there.

The trial continues on Tuesday before Mr Justice Morris and a jury.