Brothers are no strangers to threatening to kill people

Barry Duggan

WAYNE and John Dundon are well accustomed to threatening to kill people in Limerick.

Before yesterday's verdict in the Special Criminal Court, both brothers had previously served lengthy prison terms for similar offences.

Wayne (33) of Lenihan Avenue, Limerick, was found guilty of threatening to kill April Collins's brothers, Gareth and Jimmy junior. He made the death threats six months after he was released from prison for threatening to kill a barman.

On December 19, 2004, Wayne Dundon dropped off his sister, Annabel (14), to the door of Brannigan's bar in the city.

Steve Collins ran the busy pub and his nephew, Ryan Lee, refused Annabel admittance while Wayne unsuccessfully remonstrated.

However, he cocked his fingers in the shape of a gun, pushed it against Lee's face and warned: "F*** you, you're dead."

Wayne was arrested and assaulted detectives in the interview room, leaving one with a broken jaw.

Dundon was convicted of threatening to kill Lee.

The eldest son of Kenneth Dundon and Anne McCarthy, Wayne, who left school at 16, earned eight criminal convictions in the UK as a young man.

He was considered to be so violent by UK authorities that he was served with a deportation order from the British Home Office following a litany of serious crimes and returned to his parents' home city -- Limerick -- at the turn of the Millennium.

He has since served prison sentences for handling stolen property, dangerous driving offences, assault causing harm and has 42 criminal convictions in this State.

A self-proclaimed Traveller, Wayne is married to Anne Casey. They have three children. He has been in custody since last April.

John Dundon (29) of Hyde Road, Limerick, was yesterday found guilty of threatening to kill April Collins at her home on April 3 last.

He made the threats six hours after being released from Cloverhill prison.

John Dundon is no stranger to incarceration and has been in out of jail throughout the past nine years.

In January 2005, he was sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment for threatening to kill State witness Owen Treacy.

He made the threat to Treacy's wife, Donna, during the course of the 2003 Kieran Keane murder trial. John Dundon swore on his baby's life that when the trial was over he would kill Owen Treacy. He was released from prison in July 2008. The following year, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for more than 20 road traffic offences.

The Dundon brothers will be sentenced next month.

hnews@herald.ie