Fresh Sentence May Be Needed For Former City Councillor's Torture Case
A fresh sentence hearing may be required in the case of a former Sinn Féin Councillor who falsely imprisoned and threatened to kill a convicted fraudster.
Jonathan Dowdall interrogated and tortured his victim by water boarding him at his house on the Navan Road in January 2015.
His 60-year-old father Patrick also pleaded guilty to the same charges.
Both men were due to be sentenced this morning but Jonathan Dowdall’s barrister challenged a number of facts presented at a previous hearing.
When Dowdall’s home was searched in relation to another matter in March 2016, Gardaí found a USB stick in his kitchen.
On it they found a number of video clips showing a man whom they later identified as convicted fraudster Alex Hurley being water boarded.
The footage, recorded on January 15th 2015, showed him bound to an office chair in Mr. Dowdall’s garage.
It then showed the former Sinn Féin Councillor placing a towel over his head and pouring two buckets of water over him.
The court heard he suspected he was being scammed by Mr. Hurley who had called over to his house three days beforehand to look at a motorbike.
In his victim impact statement, Mr. Hurley said he was tortured to the point of death’s door.
The Special Criminal Court will hear submissions on whether there should be another sentence hearing when it reconvenes later this month.