Mark Heffernan found not guilty of false imprisonment

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Mark Heffernan was found not guilty of false imprisonment at the Special Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 31 March 2017.

Heffernan had denied falsely imprisoning Dan Quilligan, then aged 53, at a house in Larch Court, Kennedy Park, on 14 September 2015. He also denied assaulting him at the same location on that date.

The prosecution alleged that three men took part in a joint enterprise in which Quilligan was beaten and his left foot was nailed to a kitchen floor with a nail gun. Two other men were each jailed for three years after admitting assaulting him.

Heffernan’s lawyers argued that any suspected false imprisonment was a feature of the alleged assault and was wholly encompassed by the assault charge. Presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt dismissed the false-imprisonment charge, saying any such evidence was integral to the unusual method of assault and would be more fairly dealt with under the assault charge.

Protected witness Tom Lillis had testified that he saw Heffernan in the house on the day of the alleged assault. Mr Justice Hunt excluded his recognition evidence, saying it did not reach the standard upon which a jury could convict and that the basis of his previous knowledge of Heffernan was very slim.

The court heard that the prosecution had to put together a circumstantial case or there was no case. The assault trial was due to resume before Mr Justice Hunt, Judge John O’Hagan and Judge Ann Ryan.