That afternoon, Kieran Ryan was attacked outside Limerick Courthouse, where he was on trial for serious assault charges and two counts of being in possession of a knife on March 5th, 2002 in Limerick City centre. That case collapsed after the main witness and victim, Liam Keane, waivered in the witness stand, becoming unable to identify exactly who had stabbed him in the back, despite previous statements to Gardaí insisting it was Kieran Ryan. Judge Carroll Moran told the court he had "no alternative" but to direct the jury to find the accused not guilty, remarking that, "It is a very sorry state of affairs that this should happen and if this is going to persist we are going to live in a state of social chaos and anarchy."
Later the day, at around 10:30pm, the Ryan brothers were strolling down Moylish Avenue, Ballynanty, with their friend Christopher 'Smokie' Costello, when a black car pulled up just 30 yards from Costello’s home. Two masked men, armed with a shotgun and a handgun, jumped out and bundled the Ryans into the car. Costello later told Gardaí he had struggled free and escaped despite being shot at. After raising the alarm, he was briefly admitted to hospital.
Eddie Junior and Kieran Ryan in 2003
A large search began for the Ryan brothers, involving a Garda helicopter, an airplane, the Garda Sub-Aqua Unit and over 100 soldiers from Sarsfield Barracks, Limerick and Kickham Barracks, Clonmel. Soon, the search focussed on wasteland in and around Moyross and around Cratloe, County Clare, as it became increasingly likely the Ryan brothers may have been killed and dumped in a remote location.
Journalists became frequent visitors to the Ryan family home on Hogan Avenue, Kileely and Mary Ryan appeared on national television calling for the return of her children. She was quoted as saying to those who took her children, "The devil is in you. You are evil. May a widow's curse be on you for the rest of your life."
Christopher ‘Smokie’ Costello, who described himself as the ‘best friend’ of the brothers told the press that he was "lucky to be alive. By rights I should be dead." He added, “I won't stop till I find them."
Pleas for the safe return of the brothers were made by the then Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, the then Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray, Junior Minister Willie O’Dea and Alderman Michael Kelly.
Kieran Ryan’s 17 year old partner, Edel O’Neill told one newspaper, on Monday the 27th, of her fear that Kieran would never see his daughter, Kelsey, again ("He got the name from a doll's box he saw somewhere", she added).
That same day, there was a fight outside the city’s courthouse. Inside the Circuit Court, as details of an attack with an AK-47 on ‘Fat’ John McCarthy, cousin of the Ryans, was discussed, a brawl broke out among 20 people from both sides of the feud outside, with Gardaí arresting 7.
By Tuesday the 28th of January, Limerick Chief Superintendent Gerry Kelly insisted the search for the brothers would continue, but admitted that it was increasingly likely they were dead.
However, at 3am, January 30, 2003, Eddie Ryan, and his brother Kieran walked into Portlaoise Garda Station, some 70 miles from Limerick, and told Gardaí, "We're the boys who were abducted." Apparently the two were hooded the whole week they were abducted, though one newspaper noted that they still managed to shave during their ordeal. Gardaí brought them to Henry Street Garda Station where their mother waited for them. Kieran Ryan to the media, "I'm just happy to be alive and to see my whole family, especially my baby daughter." When pressed for details he added, "I got threatened and I'm not going to talk to no-one about it. I've been threatened not to talk."
It was originally thought that the Keane-Collopy gang had taken the two boys and, since kidnapping isn’t a typical feature in the Limerick feuds, it was reasonably assumed by Gardaí and others that they were killed and dumped.
It is now commonly accepted that the McCarthy-Dundons ‘kidnapped’ the Ryan brothers, perhaps offering them to the Keane-Collopy gang for a price of €50,000 or more. The Dundons then tried to lure Kieran Keane and Philip Collopy to a house in Garyowen, but Owen Treacy arrived with Keane instead of Collopy. Thinking they were on their way to execute the Ryans, Keane and Treacy travelled willingly with members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang out to the remote area of Drumbanna (this point was never emphasised at the subsequent trial or appeal as it was in no ones interests to mention it!). Here, Keane was shot dead, and, when the gun jammed, Treacy was stabbed 17 times and, mistakenly, left for dead.
Kieran Keane
One of the group of five involved in killing Kieran Keane and stabbing Owen Treacy was Christopher ‘Smokie’ Costelloe, best friend of the Ryan brothers. Costello was credited as one of the two men who stabbed Owen Treacy up to 17 times. In court, James McCarthy and Christopher Costello asserted they were both watching a football match between Liverpool and Arsenal in a house at 66, College Park in Corbally. That match, at Anfield, was a 2-2 draw, with Heskey scoring a 90th minute equaliser. Charged with murder in June 2003, Costello, was given a life sentence for killing Kieran Keane, 7 years for false imprisonment and 12 years for the attempted murder of Owen Treacy.
Christopher 'Smokie' Costello
After losing an appeal in the Court of Criminal Appeal in July 2007, Costello and his four co-accused were this week denied permission to bring the case to the Supreme Court.
The Ryan brothers were ‘released’ just 6 hours after Kieran Keane was murdered, returning home for a celebration. Mary Ryan, who was once headbutted by Kieran Keane, told journalists , “Nothing will compensate you for your children, and I want to thank everyone who went out searching.” Her brother-in-law, John Ryan, referring to the Keanes, added, “If they want to call it quits then we'll call it quits. If they don't then that's they're own problem, we don't want any more trouble…It's a deal gone wrong for the other crowd. It's their own fault."
Six months later, John Ryan died after being shot four times outside a house in Thomondgate.
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How do u know that Keane and Treacy travelled willingly to Drombanna?
ReplyDeleteI don't know it for a fact, but I've read and agree that it would've been pretty hard to get men like Keane and Treacy out there against their will. I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt does make much more sense than the story given in court, I agree. Where did you read it by the way?
ReplyDeleteWell here's one reference, from the Irish Times, (01/02/2003): But Keane (36) was a different player to the 19- and 20-year-old Ryans. He was the most senior figure in the Keane gang, a crime figure of considerable standing and means. It remains a mystery as to how somebody would get him into a vehicle for the purposes of abduction. He is said to have been the kind of man who would have fought, who would had to have been killed on the spot. But he may have known his abductors and gone with them freely. Again, an educated guess more than a fact.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the story given in court? Certainly seems a plausible theory
ReplyDelete